For the third time in four years, the IKM-Manning school district is trying to close the building in Irwin by building an addition in Manning.
At a meeting in July, the board approved a vote for November, the Carroll Times Herald reported. An official cost has not been established, the paper said. I couldn’t find a plan for 2023, but the 2020 plan is still online at the time this post was written. That flyer showed a second gymnasium that could be converted into two courts, a library, locker rooms, science rooms, and many classrooms. (We can tell it’s the 2020 plan because bond votes are no longer allowed in September.)
Earlier this year, district voters approved using state sales tax revenue, which is not a general obligation bond, for improvements at the school in Manning. Vote totals posted on KCIM’s website show that while Carroll County (Manning) voted 19-to-1 in favor, Shelby County (Irwin) and Crawford County (Manilla) were split about 50-50, tilting toward no. Weirdly, the Shelby County Auditor’s Office only has vote results from 2000 to 2011.
In 2020, the bond referendum had a 55-45 majority, but that was not a supermajority. In 2021, the referendum failed by 84 votes. Carroll County again overwhelmingly voted in favor while everywhere else voted nearly 3-to-1 against, according to results posted by KJAN. (Note that the URL indicated a successful vote, but a final canvass showed that was not the case.)