District Begins Final Push to Promote Expansion Plan ahead of January 8th Vote

Williston, ND (KEYZ)   You're invited to attend tonight's School Board series of Public Forums, the first of three where the focus is on the school district expansion plan for district one which will be on the ballot January 8th. You'll be able to ask questions and obtain all of the information needed to make an informed decision, that will effect the future of education in Williston. Joanna Baltes is District one board president.

"That's right, so there is actually two questions that we are putting forth on the ballot. The first one asks for a $60 mln. bond which will allow us to build two new elementary schools, to increase the capacity of the high school, and to do renovations on the existing elementary schools. So that is about a $60 mln. package," she says.

The second question is a yes or no vote on raising the tax mil levy from 10 to 20 percent.

"That allows us to take in about $1.2 mln. a year based on annual property taxes. So if we increase that to 20 mils that will give us an additional $1.2 mln. a year and that will allow us to finance the building of that second elementary school," says Baltes.

At tonight's meeting and the two to follow before the election, Baltes says they will get a chance to see the tangible results should the bond pass, with detailed plans and graphics..

"When people see the bond cost and the impact, they think 'oh my gosh it's going to cost me $214 a year for $100,000. in property value. So, we want them to see what they are getting because this is really a huge increase for the whole district, and not just on the elementary school side, but the additional 400 seats at the high school with the 1200 seats, to a total of 1600 seats. Right now our district capacity is 3800," says Baltes.

Tonight's meeting is at the ARC and begins at 7:30. Subsequent meetings will be on the 17th of December at WSC and on January 3rd, venue yet to be decided.