Saturday, April 13, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.
Three years ago, a group of concerned citizens got together in Des Moines, Iowa, to try to figure out how to help the city's crumbling schools.
Unlike Clark County, the Des Moines district wasn't facing explosive growth. In fact, during the 1980s the shrinking district closed 20 schools.
But when enrollment began to grow again in the '90s, a very old system quickly felt the strain.
A third of the district's 63 building are more than 75 years old and half have been open for at least five decades. The district has opened only one new school in the last 20 years.
The blue ribbon committee identified a maintenance backlog of $315 million, but state law limits the district to 5 percent of assessed value, which translates to $200 million.
But bond measures, which require a 60 percent majority, have been a hard sell. The district won approval of a small $14 million package in 1989, but the previous measure was approved in 1974.
An alternative was proposed: a 1-cent sales tax increase to be shared by the city, the schools -- and the taxpayers.
If approved in September, 60 percent of the money will go to reducing property taxes in the district, while 20 percent will go to city services, 16.5 percent to schools and 3.5 percent to recreational facilities.
The result will be a property tax reduction of $220 a year on a $100,000 home. That was enough to get 63 percent support in a 1994 poll of likely voters.
Joe Jongeward, coordinator for the project, says the key message is: "The future of the community is tied to the future of the kids. As the Des Moines Register said in an editorial headline, 'As the schools go, so goes the city.'"
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