SJSD officials break down costs behind school bond issue

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (News-Press NOW) -- With the April 8 election on the way, discussions about a bond proposal that would move St. Joseph in the direction of two new high schools.

If approved, Proposition 2 would allow for a 60-cent tax levy to fund a new high school, which is estimated to cost $157 million. The increase would be part of a 20-year bond to pay for the construction of the first of two new high schools. 

"Obviously, we don't know exactly where yet, but the 60-cent ask on the ballot kind of sets us up to do a second school in a reasonable time frame," said Mike Moore, the vice president of the St. Joseph School District board.

School officials propose to build two new high schools in St. Joseph, one north of Highway 36 and one to the south. Leaders have not released information on exactly where those two schools might be built, but the south one will be constructed first.

Breaking down the math

So, how much can taxpayers expect to pay if the bond is approved? News-Press NOW broke down the costs based on the assessed values on two houses.

The owner of a $150,000 house would pay $171 more in taxes in 2025, as opposed to the $1,401 in 2024.

The owner of a $325,000 house would pay $370.50 more in taxes in 2025, compared to the $3,035 in 2024.

The increase also applies to personal, commercial and agricultural property.

The future of the potential bond

Although the ballot language mentions the levy would cover the cost of one high school, Moore said some of the money allocated may be able to roll over towards the construction of the second high school.

"We'll be paying stuff back at a rate that our bond capacity will grow to a point where we'll have a good chunk of money to build a second high school," Moore said. "It's kind of like predicting your retirement in five years. But what we think is we'll have something like $116 million of borrowing capacity built up by 2033."

Moore said as things get more expensive as years go by, another bond request may or may not be made of voters in the future.

"Our estimates on that money are pretty conservative. It all has to do with tax valuation growth," Moore said. "We assume a pretty conservative number there to get to that $116 million. So, you know, I'm not going to rule out the fact that this, it's possible we could do a second high school without an additional ask at that time."

If the bond measure is rejected, the district would ask voters to approve a $80 million no-tax-increase bond in April of 2026 to upgrade two existing high schools, Central and Lafayette.

Regardless of if the $80 million no-tax-increase bond passes, the district's long-range plan still makes mention of aligning boundaries, reconfiguring middle schools and right-sizing elementary schools.

Whatever voters decide, school officials said it will still be a few years until constituents see its effects.

"I know that there's a lot a minds that wander and are worried about this," said Gabe Edgar, SJSD superintendent. "Nothing is going to happen until the fall of '28. There's going to be a feeder program where you have four middle schools, two of those middle schools will feed into the south high school, two will feed into the north high school."

The district plans to move to a model with 10 elementary schools, four middle schools and two high schools.

Similar Missouri school districts with this pattern include the Liberty Public School District, which has about 12,300 students.

With close to 12,000 students, the Park Hill School District also has a two-high school model.

Be sure to tune in to this News-Press NOW three-part series throughout the rest of March on NBC 21 KNPG and CBS 30 KCJO.