Highland District 5 moves ahead with multi-million dollar school construction program

Highland school officials moved quickly to buy the construction bonds approved last month for its school construction program.

The Highland District 5 school board unanimously approved $44 million in construction bonds after a public hearing Monday, July 25, which includes the $40 million approved in the June 28 referendum and refunding $4 million of previously issued bonds.

Board president Aaron Schuster said with all the challenges schools are facing these days, it’s nice to see progress happening.

“It’s quite exciting to be here at this point,” he said.

Superintendent Mike Sutton said the reason for the rush was the Federal Reserve was scheduled to meet and might raise interest rates — which did happen two days later. It is the fourth time the Federal Reserve has raised interest rates this year, the fastest tightening of monetary policy since the 1980s, according to Reuters.

“You might think we’re rushing things right now, but the reason we’re rushing things is that if we hadn’t been prepared for this meeting, to have a public hearing and resolutions to be adopted, we’d have to wait another 30 days, giving the feds two more opportunities to raise interest rates,” Sutton said.

Sutton said when he made presentations throughout the community asking for voters’ support on the referendum, he promised that the tax rate would not increase. That included certain assumptions about Highland’s financial landscape, and that meant hurrying to take advantage of interest rates while they’re still low.

“I don’t know if I’d say it was a surprise or not, but to be able to pass a $40 million bond referendum in the climate that we’re operating in right now is a real testament to the support the community gives us,” Sutton said.

Sutton spoke to community groups and the city council in the months leading up to the election, explaining the district’s plan to use the construction bonds to add an elementary school and expand the middle school.

The highest priority will be the new primary school as the current school layout and overcrowding requires children and staff to move back and forth across a parking lot to three different buildings all day. The new school will be on the south side of town on land already purchased with donated funds.

Highland Middle School will get a nine-classroom addition, and if funding and bids come in favorably, Highland High School might get a second gymnasium. The passage of the referendum also allows the district to use $2 million in federal COVID funding for the renovations.

“Our fund balance is going to look really healthy for a while,” Sutton said.