The Idaho Falls School District 91 Board of Trustees approved a $250 million bond proposal Wednesday that if voted in behalf of would lead to the updating and improvement of many District 91 facilities, officials say.

The bond issue will appear on the Nov. 8 ballot.

Trustees made plans in June to pay off the district’s existing bond debt in 2023, nine years earlier than its projected time frame, in an effort to minimize the impact of this new bond on its patrons and, according to the district, save taxpayers millions.

That bond, $53 million, was approved in 2012 and was set to mature in 2032.

After paying the $53 million bond early, the district shared that it has been hosting community outreach meetings and looking at its long-term facility needs for years, previously proposing two bonds they felt would meet those needs, to no avail. The new bond is the district reopening its efforts.

District 91 proposed and ran two bond proposals since the last in 2012; one in 2017 and another in 2018. Both of the bond proposals received over 50% of the vote and were for some of the same renovation projects, but did not reach the required supermajority of 66% for bond approvals in Idaho.

“D91 has been looking at ways to upgrade and improve its facilities — especially Idaho Falls and Skyline — for many years,” District 91 Superintendent Jim Shank said in a release. “At the same time, the city of Idaho Falls also has seen dramatic growth, resulting in additional concerns such as overcrowding in many of our elementary schools.”

Though there were two bonds previous to the current bond proposal, the newest addresses far more projects within the district, according to Margaret Wimborne, director of communications and community engagement for District 91.

“D91 did run bonds in 2017 and 2018, but those proposals only addressed the needs at IFHS and Skyline — a new high school and upgrades/improvements to Skyline,” Wimborne said. “Those bond proposals did not include the elementary schools. In both those elections we received 58% of the vote — the majority of community members supported the plans.”

The new bond proposal is nearly $200 million more than the last approved bond in 2012 and is set to cover the projects designed for the 2017 and 2018 bonds and more.

With the vote for this bond being in November, the district has plans to reach out to patrons several times within the coming months for discussions about the proposal and why it’s necessary.

“As far as outreach, we are planning a number of outreach efforts, community meetings, etc. in the coming months,” Wimborne said. “We’ll get more information out about those activities just as soon as the details are confirmed.”

The release listed projects that the $250 million dollar bond would pay for:

• The construction of a new high school on a new site to replace the aging Idaho Falls High School—the existing IFHS campus will be converted into a permanent home for D91’s Career Technical Education Center, as well as provide community spaces for the arts, athletics and more.

• The repair, renovation, remodel and improvement of Skyline High School.

• The construction of two new elementary schools. One school would be built south of Idaho Falls. The other would replace Temple View with a new, bigger school north of Idaho Falls.

“Idaho Falls School District 91 prides itself on providing all our students with every opportunity to succeed, including school buildings that are safe and secure and promote learning,” Shank said.