EDITORIAL: Study school proposals carefully

At first blush, it looks like a big number: $54 million.

That’s the price tag of ambitious school building projects proposed by Kalispell Public Schools.

The money requests that will go before voters Oct. 11 in a mail-ballot election include $25.3 million in the elementary district (for a new school south of town and renovations to the five existing elementary schools) and $28.8 million in the high school district (for a wide range of work including an $18 million project at Flathead High School).

It may take a while to digest those funding requests, but they could have been higher: Plans for a second new elementary school ($15.7 million) and a new middle school ($21.4 million) were shelved, although they may be revived sometime in the future if school enrollment keeps on rising.

Growing enrollment and classroom crowding, particularly in Kalispell’s elementary schools, are the primary impetus for the building plans.

You may remember it was not too long ago that Kalispell added classrooms to Edgerton and Peterson schools — and those new rooms were filled almost as soon as they opened. And students kept on coming.

Hence the latest plans to improve our local schools.

Kalispell is not alone in going to the voters for millions of dollars to build or upgrade schools.

Missoula schools are spending $88 million for elementary- and middle-school upgrades and $70 million for high-school renovations. Billings is undertaking a $122 million school construction and maintenance program.

And Bozeman is planning to ask voters for an estimated $50 million for a new high school to ease crowding in the largest school in the state. If that scenario sounds familiar, it should: Bozeman is modeling its proposals on what Kalispell did in building Glacier High to address crowding at Flathead High (which used to be the biggest Montana school).

For voters in Kalispell and surrounding school districts (the latter will have a say in the high-school decision), there is still plenty of time before October to sift through details and consider closely the future of Kalispell schools.

There will surely be issues of contention, but don’t let the tangential discussions (e.g., should we put grass or artificial turf at Legends Stadium?) overwhelm the bigger questions about what is best for our kids.