Summary
The Elko County School District reported no new debt and said it has applied for roughly $4.7 million in matching funds under AB519 to help cover building and mechanical work, while construction of the Owyhee (Duck Valley) school continues amid higher local bids and supply challenges.
The Elko County School District told the Debt Management Commission it carries no outstanding debt and has no current plans to issue bonds, while pressing ahead with major capital work supported by state and federal grants. District representative Cassandra Stahlke said the district has applied for about $4,700,000 in matching money under AB519 to help fund mechanical upgrades, boiler replacements and other work forecast for fiscal 2026 through 2028. “We have completed the application to apply for additional $4,700,000, which would pretty much cover about a 50% match for all of the projects that we intend on completing for FY26,” Stahlke said. The district is moving forward with a large building program tied to tribal and state funding for the Owyhee (Duck Valley) site. Stahlke said the district projects about $33,000,000 of spending this year for that program, and that additional match funds would be needed to finish new classrooms, a CTE building, a transportation/bus barn and athletic facilities. Stahlke told commissioners that higher bids for construction at the Owyhee site reflect multiple factors: remote location, high local contractor demand, travel and housing needs for crews, supply-chain constraints and inflation. “There were some issues with the soil,” Stahlke said. “Contractors are worried about tariffs. There is multiple. In schools, everything's expensive to build.” She added construction crews have already begun footings and concrete pours. The district also reported it is using a 20-cent levy collection (restored after the loss of an earlier pay-as-you-go 75-cent levy) to fund smaller capital needs and to match grant requests. For smaller, urgent repairs Stahlke said the district keeps an “ADA and other renovations” floating bucket in the five‑year CIP. The district is pursuing federal grant funding for security upgrades — including intercoms, cameras, keyless entry and vestibules — and will learn by October whether it wins a COPS School Violence Prevention Program award of roughly $500,000. Commissioners voted unanimously to accept the district’s indebtedness report and capital plan. School officials said certain site ownership and lease questions remain under legal review; Stahlke said the district believes it owns the existing school building while the land arrangement is the subject of ongoing discussion with tribal partners. The district said timelines for AB519 match approvals were not finalized but staff expected updates in coming months.
