HELENA — This fall, Helena voters will be asked whether they’re willing to support increasing property taxes to fund rebuilding or heavily remodeling three local schools.
On Tuesday night, the Helena Public Schools board of trustees voted unanimously to put two bond issues before voters Sept. 9 – just three months from now.
(Watch the video for more about what the bonds would do and what they could cost.)
District leaders argued Kessler Elementary School, Helena High School and Capital High School have all needed improvements for years, and now is the time to take action.
“Though it’s a lot, we’ve waited a long time,” said Superintendent Rex Weltz.
One bond, for the elementary school district only, would raise $43 million to build a new Kessler, adjacent to the current school. The other would raise $240 million to completely rebuild Helena High and extensively renovate Capital, and it would apply to the Helena School District and the Wolf Creek and Canyon Creek districts that send students to high school in Helena.
Supporters said Kessler’s building is no longer sufficient to meet students’ needs.
“As a trustee, you see children in January in their winter coats, sitting with staff on stairs, by a closed door – but a door nonetheless – because there's no room for them to be in a classroom or some sort of thing,” said trustee Janet Armstrong.
Leaders said the two high schools, both decades old, have roughly $50 million in deferred maintenance between them, and they’re continuing to fall behind.
Brock Gardipee, a Helena High student who just began his term as a student representative on the school board, said students have seen electrical, plumbing, heating and pest problems in the existing building.
“We spend the majority of our day in the school,” he said. “Why would we want to be working in an environment that has mice and bugs all over the ground?”
Weltz said inflation has already dramatically increased the cost of a project like this compared with the last time Helena approved a bond in 2017. He argued waiting to propose a bond would simply lead to the costs going up even further.
For someone with a $300,000 home, the district projects the elementary school bond would increase taxes by just under $40 a year and the high school bond would raise taxes by $220 a year. Leaders noted it’s more difficult to make those estimates because of the property tax changes passed during this year’s legislative session.
During Tuesday’s meeting, some of the people in attendance argued, in light of the ongoing concerns about high property taxes, it’s unlikely the public will support such a large request.
“Sending out an election saying, ‘We need lots of money’ – yeah, that is a way to start a conversation; it's a way to get a conversation of ‘No, we're not going to do any of this that you're asking for, and will you stop showing up with your hat in your hand,’” said Carrie Jones.
But board members said the needs are real, and serious enough that the community needs to start looking at ways to move forward.
“Bonds often fail,” said board chair Jennifer McKee. “The first bond for Central and Jim Darcy and Bryant did fail. But if you don't start talking about it, then you don't start talking about it.”
Weltz acknowledged the district had set a short timeline for the bond election, but said they went ahead with Sept. 9 rather than waiting for the November election because that was the only way they could potentially get one of the new schools completed in time for the 2028-29 school year.
