Next Steps
In the Aftermath of the Bond Defeat
Suggested Next Steps
-Superintendent
Amy Hawkins
The Vote NO! / Dubuque Students Deserve Better Group appreciates that you'll be looking at different options. As a community group, we're focusing on specific options that we think will greatly improve opportunities for students and the fiscal health of the District. Here are a few ideas for your Next Steps that we hope the District will consider:
1/ TOP PRIORITY: Focus on academics. During our Vote NO! Campaign, we discovered documented academic issues -- District-wide -- that we were unaware of. Poor outcomes that have continued to fester for decades without remediation or correction. Our students need and deserve better than this. [Despite the bright, shining star that is Bryant Elementary, there are academic concerns throughout the entire District.] Here's an idea:
- study (and learn from) what Bryant and other high-performing Iowa schools are doing well,
- adapt these working strategies to all of the schools within the District, and
- rectify this serious inequality.
It's essential for students as they move through the grades, graduate, and prepare to live and work successfully in society.
2/ Consider reverting to the junior-high model. This option would surely reduce the student population at Washington.
- You may ultimately decide to close Jefferson, as enrollment would be fewer than 250 students.
- You also still own Hoover School. Could you move district lines around, utilizing the Hoover building as before?
- There would be no need to build a new school.
- There would be no need for a large, substantial addition to Washington.
- Add air conditioning to Washington as part of a renovation.
3/ Work down the debt. Here is the present debt load the District is carrying. The numbers are not going to be exact due to the fact that, as payments are made regarding the outstanding bonds, the balance will be reduced. But these numbers should give you a good idea of where things are:
- The District has a current bond balance, with interest, of approximately $81 million.
- There is a pension liability of around $45 million.
- And other post-employment benefits liability of around $10 million.
So, as it stands now, the total debt amount is somewhere near $136 million.
4/ Spend within your means. The Save Fund is $13 million a year. Every year. If the school board can't work with $13 million in Save Funds for the next 25 years, there is something seriously wrong. If our math is right, that's $325 million!
A recent TH article showed the facts: There are far fewer kids in the school system now, so in our view, a less costly renovation could be done. Here are examples of how to benefit our kids without burdening the taxpayers.
- Senior is a perfect, local example. Done for $65 million.
- The two (2) Davenport middle school renovations (with additions) were just completed for under $60 million.
5/ Be better stewards of taxpayer money:
- Our sizable property taxes already fund the schools.
- A 1% sales tax already funds the schools.
6/ Stabilize and increase the District's unspent balance. We discovered a tenuous, unspent balance, potentially decreasing to $1.4 million by the end of the 2029-2030 school year. Work to fix this issue in a fiscally responsible manner. Don't wait for a bail-out to come from somewhere.
7/ Be more transparent with information and the numbers. Keep us informed as you consider new options:
- Share the numbers (student and fiscal),
- Share the motivation behind your decisions, and
- Share the results your proposed decisions will produce once implemented.
Lack of transparency was the initial concern and objection to the Bond Proposal. The lack of transparency caused us to investigate, for ourselves, when information from the Board/District was not provided. Based on what we discovered, our concern expanded to academics, spending issues, and more.
We've revised the Vote Yes Campaign's graphic to reflect our belief that Dubuque Students Deserve Better than they've been getting.
YES, WE AGREE:
NOW IS THE TIME ...
... TO DO BETTER.
About
The Dubuque Students Deserve Better Group is an outgrowth of the Vote NO! Bond Group, which was formed in opposition to the Bond Referendum in November 2025.
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