NAMPA, Idaho — School safety improvements and a new building are just a few of the 10 projects on the Nampa School District's to-do list and they're hoping to convince voters to approve a roughly $210 million school bondnext month to make it happen.
“This isn't about new growth and needing to pay for new growth. This is about updating current facilities for the community of kids we have,” said Waylon Yarbrough, Nampa School District Interim Deputy Superintendent.
Voters in Nampa will be asked to consider a $210.2 million bond next month brought by the Nampa School District's board of trustees. The money would fund and work to maintain aging facilities and improve access to special education, preschool, fine arts and athletics programs.
“Some of our buildings right now structurally pose some challenges for our teachers to be able to offer those opportunities when it comes down to a number of students in a small classroom, safety being a big scenario as well,” said Yarbrough.
One of the 10 projects is the replacement of Centennial Elementary School. Currently, the school has an open concept with no doors and classrooms separated by wall dividers, which could be a safety hazard in an active shooting situation.
“We do feel, as a district, that there is a deficiency here. So we put this out there to help them see the need,” said Cortney Stauffer, Nampa School District Executive Director of Operations.
The bond needs a 2/3 majority vote to pass. It would replace what patrons have been paying on the district's existing bonds. Currently, that's $60 per $100,000 of net taxable property value. If the bond passes that number would jump about 40% to $85 per $100,000.
“We just have needs that have evolved as our communities have changed,” said Cortney Stauffer.
Nampa School District officials say they have received a lot of support for the projects, but they have also heard from community members that this might not be a good time for the bond.
The Election is on March 14th, for more information visit the Nampa School District website.
