GF schools approve $86m bond referendum

Grand Forks voters will be asked this June to support an $86 million dollar bond issue as a down payment for fixing aging infrastructure in the school district.  A cornerstone in the “ask” is a $70.5 million dollar consolidation of West… Winship…and Wilder elementary schools into a campus with Valley Middle School.  In addition the school board is floating the idea of a ten mill increase in the building fund.

Board member Eric Lunn says with the possibility of federal ESSER dollars coming on board there’s a chance the district won’t need the full bond.

Board member Shannon Mikula suggested that amounts to wishful thinking.  “There is no public entity that has ever been issued a budget and not spent every penny of it holds true.”

If approved the tax increase would impact the owner of a $250 thousand dollar home between $29 and $30 dollars per month.