Lakota Local Schools Superintendent said the district will ask voters Nov. 4 to approve a combined bond and permanent-improvement issue that appears on the ballot as 4.99 mills for the bond plus 0.95 mills for permanent improvement, but she said independent studies and timing of existing debt rolloffs mean the first tax collections would not begin until 2029.

The superintendent said independent analyses indicate "the bond will never collect at that 4.99 mills, but rather that 3.99 mills plus the 0.95, permanent improvement" and that the district’s calculation of what taxpayers will actually pay at first collection is 2.66 mills — "$93.10 per $100,000 of assessed value." She added the district has passed board resolutions to limit the impact and time collection to align with construction timing.

Why it matters: district leaders said the bond would fund renovations, new buildings and operational savings through a reduced footprint. Officials warned that if voters reject the measure, the district could need a costlier operating levy and could face hard program decisions driven by rising class sizes and enrollment pressure.

At the board meeting, Adam Zink, presenting the district financial forecast, said a failed bond could force the district to seek an operating levy that he and the superintendent estimate would be more expensive than the proposed bond; the presentation cited a possible operating-levy scenario at about 3.12 mills. Zink also explained that the timing of debt amortizations and a two-phase bond sale (one sale in 2026 and another in 2027) are key to reducing the millage that taxpayers will actually pay.

The superintendent emphasized that delaying collection to 2029 is intentional to align tax collections with construction and to avoid overlapping new debt with existing bonds. She noted two existing bond issues — one from February 2000 and another from 2005 — are rolling off and currently collect a combined roughly 2.18 mills today (rising to about 2.28 mills for tax year 2025 because of county adjustments). Permanent-improvement collections currently are about 1.09 mills, officials said.

Officials also spelled out educational risks if the district must maintain its current footprint without the bond’s planned operational savings. The superintendent said that if high class sizes become the norm, "we would have to potentially make programming decisions like the elimination of specials in K-6, which would mean we would have no art, no music, or PE in K-6," and that the district might consider ending full-day kindergarten in favor of half-day kindergarten to relieve capacity pressures.

Board action already taken: the superintendent told the board that the district approved two resolutions earlier this summer to support the ballot plan — one on June 30 setting the cap that produces the 2.66-mill calculation, and another on July 21 delaying the start of collections until calendar year 2029. Both were presented as already approved by the board prior to the Sept. 22 meeting.

District leaders said they have held community presentations and posted the full slide deck and Q&A on the district website; they encouraged residents to attend informational sessions and to vote. "Once they hear the explanation, you can get to the people. They understand it," the superintendent said.

Ending: District officials said they will continue community outreach through fall informational sessions and updated Q&A materials on the district website ahead of the Nov. 4 election.