Des Moines schools, amid tumult, take bonds to voters

A rendering of an upgrade planned if Des Moines Public Schools’ bond referendum passes on Nov. 4.

Des Moines Public Schools

After Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested its superintendent, Des Moines Public Schools took a number of steps to restore confidence in its $265 million general obligation bond measure, which must be approved by 60% of voters in the Nov. 4 election to pass.

Those include appointing a bond oversight committee — which the district announced on Oct. 14, about two weeks after the Sept. 26 arrest of Superintendent Ian Roberts — and seeking a new audit from Iowa State Auditor Rob Sand.

The district had already scaled back a $500 million bond plan to $265 million during Roberts’ tenure. In the new Reimagining Education bond plan, the full-scale renovations at nearly every district facility were dialed back to partial upgrades — typically 50% of square footage — and excluded renovation costs at many sites, according to a presentation to the board.

The bond measure would involve a property tax increase, according to the district’s website. The current rate is $14.61 per $1,000 of taxable value; if the measure passes, that would rise by $1.99 to $16.60 per $1,000 next year, with the bond costing the average taxpayer $198 per year.

The district does not currently have any GO debt outstanding, CFO Shashank Aurora said.

The district has six series of revenue bonds outstanding, and its total outstanding bond debt at fiscal year’s end 2024 stood at $98.9 million, according to its most recent annual comprehensive financial report.

The district’s last bond referendum was in 1989, Aurora said by email.

If the referendum fails, Aurora said, “we would still continue with the projects as defined in the referendum, but it would take a lot longer for us to accomplish it. We would use SAVE revenues to pay for it.”

Secure an Advanced Vision for Education funds are the funding streams formerly known as the statewide school infrastructure sales and services tax and local option sales and services tax. SAVE funds received for infrastructure purposes can be used for capital projects or property tax relief. They back the district’s outstanding revenue bonds.

If approved, the GO bonds would be issued based on cash flow forecasts of construction needs across the five-year plan, Phil Roeder, the district’s director of communications, said by email.

“The creation of the (bond oversight) committee sends a strong message to taxpayers that DMPS is committed to openness and trust,” he said. “They will verify that bond proceeds are used exactly as described in the voter-approved plan and will report their findings to the public.”

Oversight committee chair Marc Ward did not respond to requests for comment.

Bond proceeds will fund additions and renovations to multiple school buildings, according to the resolution placing the bond measure on the Nov. 4 ballot, and the demolition of
one school building and construction of a new building on the same site.

Roeder did not respond to a question about public comments by the interim superintendent, who said that the failure of the bond measure at the ballot box may result in hundreds of layoffs.

The current bond plan received more than 9,000 signatures from Des Moines residents, Roeder said.

“Des Moines Public Schools is more than one person, and the Reimagining Education initiative is not tied to any single individual,” he said. “The plan represents years of work by educators, parents, students, business leaders, and community members. Matt Smith, our current interim superintendent, coordinated much of the work leading up to this effort while he was associate superintendent.”

Interim Des Moines school superintendent Matt Smith was closely involved in the bond planning process as associate superintendent, a district spokesman said.

Roberts is a citizen of Guyana who allegedly has not had status to work in the U.S. since 2020 and was ordered removed in 2024.

After Roberts’ arrest, the Associated Press reported Roberts had recommended the district sign contracts with a firm he was affiliated with as a consultant and speaker.

“Since his arrest, there have been multiple reports casting doubt on the truthfulness of Roberts’ stated biographical and professional background,” the district said in a lawsuit filed against the firm that facilitated the superintendent search that resulted in Roberts’ hiring in 2022.

A federal grand jury in October returned indictments of Roberts for making a false statement for employment — by attesting he was a U.S. citizen — and on a firearms charge, the AP reported.

Sonya Heitshusen, a spokesperson for the state auditor — a Democrat who is running for governor — said by email that Sand’s office cannot estimate the approximate completion date of the audit requested by the district, “as it is impossible to know what might be uncovered during an audit or investigation that might require additional testing or procedures to be performed.”

The Reimagining Education bond measure dovetails with the strategic plan released on Jan. 14, which sets the goals of improving student performance by expanding career and technical education, increasing pre-K education and reducing class sizes, according to the resolution.

Among other things, that plan aimed to turn around years of enrollment declines. In the 2024-25 school year, Des Moines Public Schools saw enrollment outflows of 2,937 due to open enrollment that allows students to transfer to neighboring districts.

The district reported enrollment of 30,836 in 2024-25.

The plan sets as a goal for 2030 that open enrollment out of the district will not surpass open enrollment into the district. It also calls for an increase in the number of schools offering innovative programming, and a reduction in operational costs to align with projected enrollment.

Roeder said the bond measure “reinvests in our neighborhood schools, expands hands-on and technical learning, and ensures every student can access Signature Schools Diploma+ opportunities regardless of their ZIP code.”

The Diploma+ program recognizes students who have pursued their post-graduation interests with distinction, according to the district’s website, and the Signature Schools effort would reimagine some schools as STEM, arts or dual-language education magnet schools.

The bond measure grew out of study and research by a local committee, Roeder said.

“Over the past two years, a committee of nearly 80 community members, parents, teachers, students, and business partners met to study enrollment patterns, building conditions, and program access across our 60+ schools,” he said.

“Not only did they hire experts to examine the buildings, but they also toured schools to see the infrastructure needs for themselves,” he added. “Members also visited similarly sized districts in the region to examine what conditions and programming was working well for other students.”

A draft Reimagining Education plan was shared with the public in more than a dozen feedback sessions before the final plan was approved by the school board.