Two months from today, a big school bond issue vote will determine if more than $100 million will be spent to improve facilities in the South Sioux City School District.
Last month, school officials heard that the plan to add modern facilities in the district could cost up to $127 million. In a Tuesday school board meeting, the members voted 6-0 to hold the bond issue vote for $127 million on May 13.
The measure needs a simple majority vote to pass.
The list of possible facility additions includes a new intermediate center for fifth and sixth graders, constructing a new kindergarten through fourth grade building, plus a new pre-K building. The plan also includes some updates to improve accessibility and for better security measures.
In a series of 2024 meetings, the Cardinal Vision Group carried out research and recommended the bond issue vote, saying many buildings are aging and the district’s student enrollment continues to increase.
South Sioux City School District workers are currently educating nearly 3,800 students. That number is projected to rise by 150 students over the next five years, and by 500 pupils over the next 10 years.
*Summit Carbon Solutions is asking regulators in South Dakota to hit pause and extend the deadline for its application to build and operate a carbon dioxide pipeline in the state.
The Iowa-based company in a Wednesday filing asserted that a new South Dakota law, which bans companies to use eminent domain powers for land on which to place carbon dioxide pipelines, is a significant barrier to completing land surveys.
Iowa regulators last year granted Summit a permit and the right to use eminent domain for its first phase of the project in the state. But construction cannot begin until it receives the greenlight from South Dakota.
Attorney Brian Jorde, who has represented South Dakota landowners in legal disputes with Summit, said Summit has “tormented” landowners for nearly four years. Jorde said the current permit should not be paused, but rather dismissed, while Summit officials work to pinpoint a pipeline path through South Dakota without eminent domain.
*Additionally, five years ago the coronavirus pandemic resulted in a big impact on Siouxland schools, as many called off classes or had students attend virtually.
A few schools held the traditional proms that often take place in April, while some, such as the Sioux City School District, did not. However, now the members of the 2020 classes of West, East and North high schools will now have a chance to have a prom, five years later.
The Sioux City Public Schools Foundation on Thursday announced an endeavor that invites the class of 2020 to celebrate prom during “Rewrite the Night” on June 28, 2025.
That event will be held at Anthem in the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino-Sioux City. Officials said it was unfortunate for the students to miss out on the fun that comes with a prom.
“Prom is such a special milestone, and it’s important to give the class of 2020 the celebration they missed out on,” said Karen Harrison, Development Director for the Sioux City Public Schools Foundation.
“We are excited to give the class of 2020 an opportunity to rewrite prom.”
*In other news, Nebraska towns would no longer have to fluoridate their water supplies under a proposal that got a public hearing on Wednesday. Additionally, school bond elections would have to be held on a more regular schedule to try and increase voter turnout, under a bill advancing in the Legislature.
Currently, Nebraska cities and villages with 1,000 or more people are required to add fluoride to their municipal water supplies to cut down on tooth decay.
State Senator Ben Hansen has introduced a bill to repeal that requirement, and leave it up to individual municipalities to decide. In a public hearing before the Health and Human Services Committee, Hansen said when municipalities were allowed to opt out of the mandate before 2010, more than 80 percent of the towns opted out.
Dr. Jessica Meeske, president of the Nebraska Dental Association and a pediatric dentist in Hastings, opposed the proposal to remove the fluoride mandate: “Water fluoridation is safe, it's cheap, and it works.
The committee took no immediate action on the proposal.
Also Wednesday, the Legislature gave first round approval to a bill that would require school bond elections to be held on a more regular schedule to try and increase voter turnout.
State Senator Rick Holdcroft said when bond issues or levy overrides are voted on separately from other elections, voter turnout is lower.
*In Iowa, a bill advanced this week in the state Senate that would cut taxes that businesses pay to cover unemployment benefits when people get laid off from their jobs.
The unemployment tax cuts were first proposed by Governor Kim Reynolds last year. She says Iowa’s unemployment trust fund has too much money in it, and she wants to provide more tax relief.
Reynolds is asking lawmakers to lower the top unemployment tax rate and reduce the taxable wage base by half.
Peter Hird with the Iowa Federation of Labor says the bill won’t benefit working people.
Hird said the proposal by Reynolds is a result of 2022 changes that reduced the maximum number of weeks that people can collect unemployment benefits from 26 to 16. Due to those changes, the state is paying out less in benefits, so Reynolds said less should be brought in from employers.
