School Building Needs Aired in WC
Legacy Fund Could Help with Construction
Meeting the state's infrastructure needs is a popular potential use for earnings from the state's Legacy Fund, and legislators meeting in Watford City this week heard that "schools are infrastructure" too.
Nearly a dozen western school superintendents, all of whom are WDEA members, described needs in their districts to the ND Legislature's interim Legacy Funds Earnings Committee. Its members are tasked with coming up with a plan for the use of earnings from the fund, the principal of which has grown to nearly $7 billion, producing earnings of about $455 million last biennium.
WDEA board member Leslie Bieber, the superintendent in Alexander, said higher student numbers attributable to growth in the oil industry are forcing many western North Dakota schools to construct additional classroom space. Bieber said the Alexander district completed an expansion in 2016 and saw its enrollment surge 40 percent just two years later. She said another project is set to begin this spring, adding a vocational-agriculture and industrial arts facility in the district.
"Schools from the west to the east are saying the same thing," Bieber said. "School infrastructure is a need and a priority."
Schools aren't just important for educating young people, they're an important part of the economy, according to Gary Wilz, Superintendent of the Killdeer School District. Wilz, the immediate past president of WDEA, told the committee good schools are essential to attract workers to the state.
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Kenmare School Superintendent Tim Godfrey urged the committee to consider providing assistance to meet construction needs in growing districts and to upgrade aging buildings. Godfrey said the Kenmare district has a bond vote scheduled March 17 to construct an addition to its high school.
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here to listen to Godfrey's comments.
McKenzie County School Superintedent Steve Holen said his district recently passed a bond for a new elementary school which is under construction in Watford City. But Holen, a past WDEA board member, said increasing enrollment means additional construction will soon be needed, and the district's voters may push back against the higher property taxes that will result.
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here to listen to Holen's comments.
Holen said the financial needs of school districts are having an impact on the spending decisions of city and county government. That fact was confirmed by Dickinson Mayor Scott Decker, who testified that the city has postponed municipal projects because of concerns the additional cost would affect the ability of the school district to pass a bond issue.
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here to listen to Decker's comments.
The districts that best demonstrate the need for additional state funding for school construction are the Williston No. 1 School District and Williams County District 8. Beth Zietz, interim superintendent in the Williams County district, said the modular classrooms they've been forced to use are unacceptable.
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here to listen to Zietz's comments.
Zietz said because 75% of the oil tax revenue that districts receive is deducted from their state aid payment, it's difficult to pay for additional classrooms to accommodate the increasing student populations attributable to growth in oil industry activity. Williams County District 8 will hold an
election next Tuesday, February 25, on a $28 million bond issue to finance construction of a new elementary school.
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here to listen to Zietz's comments.
The president of the school board in the Williston No. District, which had two bond issues fail by narrow margins last year, also urged the committee to consider using Legacy Fund earnings to support school construction. Joanna Baltes said maintaining a quality education system in Williston is not just a local issues, it's important to the entire state.
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here to listen to Baltes' comments.
Baltes said the Williston district has tried to come up with innovative ways to meet its need for additional classroom space, but bottom line, state support is needed. She said voters in the district are politically savvy, and understand that taxes paid by the oil industry should be used to help build schools.
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here to listen to Baltes' comments.
The Western Dakota Energy Association has formed a working group comprised of superintendents and business managers of member school districts to pursue solutions to school construction funding challenges. In addition to providing testimony to the Legacy Fund Earnings Committee, the group is also working closely with the interim Education Funding Formula Review Committee.
