A community task force is recommending that the School District of Spring Valley hold an April referendum seeking voter approval of $13.15 million for facility improvements.

Task force members presented their findings and recommendations at the district board’s Dec. 18 meeting.

The board will consider next steps for a possible referendum at a special meeting scheduled for Jan. 8.

The task force recommended a two-question referendum. The first would total $9.8 million, with possible projects including a bus garage, mechanical and electrical system upgrades, and remodeling and expanding space for career/technical, agriculture and family and consumer sciences education.

The second would be $3.35 million to construct a basic, eight-lane athletic track and for major maintenance at Syverson Pool.

The task force also recommended “cautious” consideration of using Fund 46 funds for other “critical improvements.” Fund 46 is a district savings account dedicated to capital improvement projects. Currently, the district has $1.6 million set aside in Fund 46 from end-of-fiscal-year surpluses, Superintendent John Groh said.

The district established the task force in the fall to provide community input on facilities needs and make recommendations for addressing them.

A presentation of community survey results including a finding that a referendum of approximately $10 million was “definitely” or “probably” supported by 49.9 percent of respondents. The survey had 474 respondents and a statistical margin of error of plus or minus 4.59 percent.

A $10 million referendum would result in an annual estimated property tax increase of $88 per $100,000 of property value, or $7.33 per month, assuming a 20-year borrowing plan financed at 5 percent interest, according to the presentation.

Projects on which community members were surveyed included mechanical and electrical upgrades costing $5.1 million, a $1.5 million transportation building, pool repairs and equipment replacement costing $250,000, and career/technical, agriculture and family and consumer sciences education space improvements costing $7.1 million.

The results broke out support for the various projects as high, medium or low. Scoring highest was mechanical and electrical upgrades, with 45 percent scoring high, 38 percent medium and 17 percent low. Next highest was a bus garage: 42 percent high, 39 percent medium and 19 percent low.

The total list of potential projects totals more than $23 million. The survey results presentation said, “we know completing these projects at one time is not realistic. We will use our community’s input to determine how many projects, if any, can be completed at this time.”

Task force member Richelle Bartlett said the state won’t finance the district’s needs. “You have to pay for it if you want it,” she said.

Board member Dan Stasiek said he is “a little bit pessimistic” about a two-question referendum’s chances of winning at the polls. Stasiek noted the voters’ 2023 rejection of a two-question referendum of $1.5 million to cover operations and $7.1 million for an outdoor athletic facility.

Task force member Beth Ingli, a former school board member, also said she was concerned that a two-question referendum could be defeated and suggested deferring until 2026 a referendum to fund the track. “I don’t want it to happen again,” Ingli said, referring to the 2023 election results.

Bartlett said one reason the 2023 referendum failed was low turnout among the age demographic covering parents of school-age children.

Rob Brown of Nexus Solutions, a district consultant, said operations referendums are “a hard sell,” adding, “I think you’re in a much better position this time around.” The district partnered with Nexus in 2023 to develop a 10-year facilities plan.

On other matters, the board received an update on the district’s implementation of Act 20 reading education requirements.

Reading specialist Amy Webb said an early literacy remediation plan in development includes screening students for early literacy skills and developing personal reading plans for kindergarten through third grade students who are below the 25^th percentile.

Webb said the district is “in compliance” with Act 20’s prohibition on use of “three-cueing” reading instruction methods.

District Superintendent John Groh said the Act 20 requirements “are a really good thing for our kids. It’s going to scare some parents, but maybe it should scare them because every kid needs to be able to read well.”