The BCLUW school district is seeking approval of an $8.8 million bond Nov. 7 for additions to its elementary and high school sites in Conrad. The plan would result in closure of the building in Union, which currently serves grades 5-8. Details and a questions page have been posted online.
The round gym would stay as the varsity gym, and a second gym would be added for PE and junior varsity events.
It is not unique that the rural district’s enrollment has been declining. However, there is a new factor: State funding for private schools. Superintendent Ben Petty made that explicit in an interview with the Marshalltown Times-Republican.
“Because the state has made it a priority to use public funds for private schools going forward to the tune of — eventually — hundreds of millions of dollars a year, for the state to find those additional funds, I really think it’s gonna have an impact on the funds available for public schools, I think, over the next several years, unfortunately,” Petty told the T-R in August.