“We’ve got two weeks and one day to go,” Mid-Prairie superintendent Mark Schneider said about the district’s upcoming bond referendum, which will be on the ballot on March 1.

The referendum is several years in the making — the facilities committee started meeting to discuss possible construction projects in April 2018. The committee consisted of over 50 members including parents, business owners, district teachers and administrators who came up with a list of recommended projects that they presented to the school board. The board then spent many weeks discussing the facilities needs of the district before reaching consensus on $37.6 million in projects, including a 600-seat auditorium, additional classrooms at the middle school and East Elementary and a new wrestling and weight room, among other projects. Many of the proposed projects, after shuffling rooms around, will create more classroom spaces in the district’s buildings.

To fund the numerous projects, the district hopes to sell $26.3 million in general obligation bonds, but first the bond referendum must pass in March.

The ballot will have two questions: the first will ask the voters permission to sell the bonds and the second will ask the voters permission to raise the debt service levy to a new limit of $4.05 per $1,000 of taxable valuation.

Schneider said many community members he’s spoken and met with have been confused about why there will be two questions on the ballot.

The current debt service levy will need to increase by 60 cents, from $2.70 to $3.30, but the ballot will ask Mid-Prairie voters’ permission to raise the debt service levy to $4.05.

“I know it’s confusing so maybe I can illustrate using this example,” Schneider wrote to The News. “Let’s assume I have a credit card that has a $2,000 limit. I make purchases and pay the full balance every month but obviously, I can never purchase anything that goes over the $2,000 limit. Let’s suppose that one month I want to buy something that costs $2,500. To do that I need permission from the credit card company to raise my limit and let’s assume the credit card company sets the new limit to $3,000.  I can now purchase the $2,500 item, but I do not have to use the full $3,000.”

Schneider said he is working to educate the public about what the debt service levy and bond referendum means and has meet with several community organizations and groups to discuss the upcoming bond issue, such as the Kalona and Wellman rotary.

The district will also host two public meetings to give the community a chance to learn about and discuss the referendum with Schneider and representatives from the district. The first meeting will be Monday, Feb. 21 at 7 p.m. at the high school and the second will be Wednesday, Feb. 23 at 7p.m. at the middle school.