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GRAND FORKS — North Dakota’s K-12 schools are aging. Some state lawmakers have argued that many buildings require major infrastructure updates or entirely new construction to educate children safely.
However, many small districts cannot afford to replace critical systems if they fail. Just ask Anna Sell, superintendent of the Oaks Public School District. Her district’s high school celebrated its 100th anniversary last year, and the elementary school was built 63 years before hers. The district is home to approximately 500 students.
“In fact, (last year) the cooling system finally failed. We spent months trying to find a way to replace it, but the system is so old, about 50 years old, that it was hard to renovate it. “It costs about $400,000 to $500,000. We don’t have that kind of money,” she said. “We were asked, ‘What is Plan B?'” There is no Plan B because there is not enough money to make Plan B a reality. ”
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The Oaks Public School District is preparing a $14.84 million bond referendum on March 14 to support essential investments to address critical building and infrastructure needs. Those needs include new chillers, similarly aging boilers that need replacing, and replacing 100-year-old sewer pipes that run under some buildings.
“Our referendum concerns four things: HVAC and windows in the high school, kitchen, plumbing, and ADA-compliant bathrooms,” Sell said.
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If a group of North Dakota lawmakers has their say, the state could soon create a funding mechanism that they believe could avert pressing problems in the state’s education system.
The proposed state-backed construction grant plan defines criteria to evaluate two things: the need for new schools and renovations and additions, and to determine how school districts qualify. will be done.
The initial proposal presented by the North Dakota State Board of Education’s School Funding Task Force includes a sliding scale based on a district’s student population, the value of the district’s factories and access to federal funds. Funding ranges in size from 5 to 95 percent of total project costs, and all districts must secure funding along the way. Financing less than 25% requires the use of state-approved plans, bulk purchasing, and construction management. The proposal would be limited to maintain cost savings and would maintain local control over finishes and some exterior design.
Labor costs can be controlled by allowing schools to be built by companies willing to control these costs, but the reality is that labor costs increase based on a school district’s location. The evaluation criteria for extensions and new construction is set at his 60% of the cost of new construction. Triage building schedules are used based on needs due to increased enrollment or technical reports indicating unsafe conditions that prevent continued use of the building.
The task force is awaiting details from a survey from 100 districts regarding physical plant needs to frame the process and scale of the program.
Some lawmakers say the need is great.
“North Dakota is experiencing an impending cliff that will impact more rural schools,” said U.S. Rep. Eric Murphy, R-Grand Forks. “We shouldn’t do it anymore and we can’t build a building in its place.”
Although this is a statewide issue, Oaks’ problem may be the best example of the moment. For example, an HVAC system and new windows are expected to cost nearly $12 million, and replacing 65-year-old appliances and updating the district’s kitchen will cost about $2 million, Sell said. The district’s operating budget is not large enough to fund these projects.
The district’s construction fund can build up to 20 plants, an amount approved by voters in the 1990s. The fund typically generates $440,000 for the district, and even with diligent savings, there is no way the district could afford to make these modifications, Sell said.
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“If we don’t have air conditioning and we lose the boiler or we lose other parts of the system, we can’t have school at the high school,” she said. “The kitchen is 65 years old and the electrical equipment in the structure underneath it is not working properly. We are getting by. We are taking extreme caution.”
What’s the worst-case scenario for the Oaks? The kitchen will no longer be available and all students will have to be sent to surrounding areas.
“What public school district could absorb those 500 kids?” Sell asked. “If we lose a school, it’s very detrimental to a town. We know what happens when a town in North Dakota loses a school. They cease to exist.”
School Funding Task Force
Across the state, school districts are helping lawmakers develop funding proposals for legislative action during the 2025 session. Its purpose is to authorize state-funded construction to supplement local resources for North Dakota’s public schools. Examples of current district funding needs include:
- Valley City needs an estimated $37 million to fix electrical, plumbing, safety issues and more throughout the district. The average age of the district’s buildings is 66 years old, with some high schools built 105 years before him.
- In Devils Lake, two schools in the district need new boilers and four schools need air conditioning. Other needs include adding classrooms at the elementary school, paving parking lots at two schools, and updating his ADA compliance within the district.
Addressing aging infrastructure is just one of the district’s needs. The other is finding room to educate the growing population in growing metropolitan areas.
Williston Basin School District plans to put a $35 million bond vote before voters on April 17 to address rising enrollment. Williston expects to add another 1,000 students over the next five years. The bond provides funds to “support the construction and equipment of new elementary schools, the purchase of land for school construction, and other school facility improvements, renovations, alterations, construction and equipment, and site improvements.” Offers.
In September 2023, West Fargo voters rejected a $147 million referendum request that included a total of nine projects. The district’s Board of Education is currently developing a strategy to engage stakeholders to create solutions to address the district’s rapid growth.
At a Feb. 22 Board of Education meeting in Bismarck, the state’s School Funding Task Force shared data it collected during a survey of North Dakota schools to determine the extent of need.
Murphy said during this process, he considered three other states that use different funding models. Kansas uses a sliding scale and allocates her 5 to 95 percent of needed funds to help districts with construction and renovation costs. In Wyoming, the state owns all schools and is responsible for their maintenance. Murphy believes Wyoming’s model won’t work in North Dakota, which focuses on local control. Minnesota’s program includes lookbacks to help reimburse school districts for certain infrastructure costs, another program Murphy doesn’t like.
“In Grand Forks, we’re considering building a new school on the Air Force base, and that process taught me something important: You can’t just hand people an open checkbook. “The $45 million project is now approaching $90 million for approximately 350 children,” he told the committee. “We need to think about how to manage costs. In Grand Forks we are in favor of the referendum, but not across the state.”
The first task the task force is working on is determining the scope of the problem.
“We don’t know what it is yet,” Murphy told the Grand Forks Herald. “It could be about $1 billion. We have too many schools, but that’s not mismanagement, and we’re not overpaying administrators. (Some school districts’) tax bases We cannot support new schools.
“Many of our schools are very old. Times have changed and conditions have changed. When it comes to the state constitution, it’s clear that we have a responsibility to educate all children in a safe place. “This is what we are dealing with in Congress,” he said.
Another challenge is that factory values vary from district to district. Data presented during the committee meeting shows that the school district prices for the majority of school districts (129) are between $5,001 and $50,000. Bismarck University is the school with the highest average daily membership (ADM) of 14,340 students and $575,472. The least valuable factory (not including Grand Forks Air Force Base or Minot Air Force Base) is Twin Buttes at $39 for 50 ADM. Schools on Native American reservations also have access to other federal mechanisms to fund school construction.
“If the state requires a school construction program, how can school districts with lower value per mil replace aging and often dilapidated schools?” Murphy asked the task force. Asked.
“We’re going to reach a tipping point in the next few years. Building inspectors are going to condemn schools. How will we respond as a town?” Murphy asked.
Williston Basin School District Superintendent Dr. Richard Faidley asked a task force to analyze the upcoming referendum and consider funding sources.
“We need to build two elementary schools in Williston, and the cost to build them is now astronomical. It’s $55 million today, versus $32 million four years ago. Prices aren’t going down. “We need to look at our funding sources and work together as Congress to talk and ask our K-12 students to come up with creative ways to address these challenges,” he said. . “We’re not asking for a third. This is a long-term situation that we’re all facing.
“There are many differences in how school districts receive revenue, which creates many challenges to the school construction debate. For municipalities like West Fargo, we need a solution, and that’s what we’re proposing.” “We need to make sure that every district in the state is covered when we do so. This is a huge undertaking and will require much more detailed analysis and discussion with districts,” Faidley said. Told.
The author of this article, Carrie McDermott, is the editor of Prairie Business, a magazine published by the Grand Forks Herald. A digital subscription to Prairie Business is free and available on his website in the Herald.
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