Iron County School District Officials Make Case For Bond Passage

As many of you know, we are being asked to consider not one but two bond issues in Iron County in the upcoming November election. One bond proposal is from Iron County and is primarily about funding a new correctional facility. The other bond proposal is from the Iron County School District and is meant to address the needs of a growing student population in the district.

Dr. Lance Hatch, the Superintendent for the Iron County School District and Todd Hess, Business Administrator for Iron County School District joined us on the radio show this morning to make the case for the passing of the bond.

Hatch pointed out that the community should not be surprised about the bond proposal, as the process started back in 2021. “We talked to the public about that bond (the 2021 bond). We told everybody that (bond) did not meet our needs and that we' be coming back in 2023,” Hatch said.

Student population growth is the driving force behind the need for additional facilities for the district and Hess told us, “we work hard to try and plan and prepare for the future. We look at growth projections, we trained to put out to the public what we really need. Some of the needs have been around for awhile.”

We mentioned to our guests that some school districts in Utah are seeing general population growth, but not student population growth and that some of these districts are actually considering closing some schools. While acknowledging that general population growth in the Iron County school district is outpacing student growth, they pointed out that student enrollment is still growing at a rate of 1.5% to 1.8% per year.

Hatch outlined the priorities for the district if this bond is passed by the voters. “We've got five projects. The first one...is the tenth elementary school.” Other priorities include additional classrooms and facilities at Canyon View High School, facilities for Alternative Programs offered by the district, such as Launch High School, ADA compliant playgrounds at all district elementary schools and artificial turf for the football fields at three high schools.

Our guests emphasized that passing of this bond would be tax neutral. Because previously passed bonds will be retiring, the amount of annual tax on a $450 thousand fair market value primary residence will remain the same.

“The bond proposal is a $75.5 million bond. The taxpayer won't pay anymore than they're paying right now, they also won't pay any less than they're paying now,” Hess said.

To get more information about the bond proposal click this page on the Iron County School District website. And you can listen to out entire segment with our guests below.