A vote for the future of education

Some big-money decisions are facing voters in the Nov. 2 general election.

The biggest projects ever for Flathead Valley schools, with a price tag of almost $51 million, are on the line.

Kalispell-area voters will be asked to give their OK for $39.8 million for a new high school and $10.9 million to revamp Kalispell Junior High.

The two-pronged high school project would build a new, 1,200-student high school northwest of Kalispell and do $5 million worth of upgrades and renovations at Flathead High.

The junior high bonds would pay for 58,000 square feet of new construction including classroom space, a new gym and cafeteria/auditorium, plus extensive remodeling.

There are plenty of details - such as who will attend which high school or how programs will differ at each school, or how to pay for junior high or middle-school programs - to be ironed out before the new schools would open.

But the resolution of those details is separate from the bigger issue of whether we need new and improved school facilities.

On balance, we believe we do.

Flathead High School, with 1,800 students in three grades jammed into the facility in a residential area on Kalispell's west side, has long been the subject of expansion or replacement proposals.

The plan facing voters in two weeks would not only ease the crunch at Flathead High, but also provide room to handle enrollment growth (particularly on the booming north side of town) and shift ninth-graders from the junior high to the high schools.

The junior high project would upgrade facilities that have been lacking for years and allow the school to rearrange grades and change to a sixth-, seventh- and eighth-grade school.

The bond plans, if approved, provide for a sequential system of dealing with current and future classroom crowding.

Sixth-graders moving to the junior high building would free up space in all Kalispell's elementary schools; seventh- and eighth-graders would have more up-to-date facilities; and freshmen would be in high school, a better fit both academically and socially.

One key reason to support the bond issues is timing.

If the school district decided to wait for either or both money requests, it's likely that the funding sought would increase sharply.

Construction costs around here are rising at up to 15 percent a year. At that rate, a delay of a year or two or three on big school projects adds up to trouble - possibly millions of dollars, if you also figure on rising interest rates.

These projects aren't cheap - but they're not going to get any cheaper.

To be sure, property taxes will go up if the bonds are approved - first to build the school projects and then to operate the schools - but the pain in the pocketbook is a justifiable price to pay for progress.

On Nov. 2, votes for the bond issues are votes for the future of education and students in School District 5.