Voters in the Des Moines school district on Tuesday will decide whether to approve a bond referendum to modernize schools, a move supporters believe will better prepare students for the workplace and post-secondary education.

If the $265 million measure fails, a bleak future awaits the district, supporters warn. Enrollment in the district will likely continue declining, leading to staff layoffs and school closures.

“This investment in educational programs for students will spur economic development,” said Matt Smith, Des Moines’ interim schools superintendent. “Updated schools improve home values and they attract new businesses to a community.”

Programs proposed to be added in the schools, from preschool and Montessori to state-of-the-art career and technical education and performing and visual arts, will help attract more students to the district, Smith said. “This will enable Des Moines public schools to compete in a market that’s incredibly competitive nowadays.”

Gaining voter approval, though, could be challenging.

The measure needs a super majority of votes – 60% – to pass. The last time the district passed a bond referendum was in 1989 when 71.2% of voters approved a $14.5 million bond issue ($36.4 million in today’s dollars).  

District officials must also gain voters’ trust, another challenging hurdle.

In early October, the district placed its chief academic officer on paid administrative leave for undisclosed reasons.

In late September, Ian Roberts, the district’s superintendent at the time, was arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. Roberts, a native of Guyana, is accused of being in the country illegally and not complying with an order of removal issued in May 2024. Since his arrest, inconsistencies in Roberts’ resume have been revealed. Roberts resigned as superintendent.

The school district faces several state and federal investigations related to its hiring practices. It is also undergoing a financial audit, which district officials requested.

Smith, who has worked in the district since 2010, including nearly seven years as associate superintendent, was appointed interim superintendent following Roberts’ arrest. The board has since approved a two-year contract with Smith, who will serve as interim superintendent through June 30, 2027.

“We have a job to do regardless of what’s going on around us; regardless of what the rhetoric might be locally, statewide or nationally,” Smith said. “We’ve got to move the needle for kids. We take that very, very seriously.

“We’re going to continue to engage in coaching and support and supervision and accountability structures that get the very best out of our staff members, because that’s what our kids and our families deserve.”

The plan known as Reimagining Education Reinvigorating Schools is not the vision of one person but of 80-plus community members, business leaders, district staff and teachers, parents and students, Smith said. The group met numerous times over the course of nearly two years to put the plan together, he said.

Originally, the group proposed asking voters to approve a $500 million bond referendum. The plan would have been rolled out over 10 years.

The school board balked at the proposed plan’s price tag, prompting the community group to scale back the proposal and shorten its timeline to five years. Specifics include:

• Developing signature or magnet schools in each of the district’s three regions: northwest, northeast and south. The signature schools would allow students to be immersed in specialty programs such as career and technical education, health sciences, arts, Montessori and STEM (science, technology, engineering and math).
• Expanding the district’s Diploma+ program that provides students with opportunities to graduate from high school with college credits, improved career preparedness, military readiness and other post-secondary skills.
• Expanding access to all-day preschool including providing transportation.
• Transforming middle schools with more hands-on activities, and career and technical opportunities.
• Building a preschool through eighth grade school with dedicated focus on fine and performing arts education.
• Designing and adding 60 new classrooms that support hands-on, project-based learning and critical thinking skills. Also adding more than 50 classrooms that support career and technical education and 18 classrooms for Montessori programs.
• Closing Walnut Street School, Harding Middle School and Howe Elementary School as well as the administrative building at 2100 Fleur Drive.

The Des Moines school district will be divided into three regions, each with a comprehensive high school and one or more signature schools. Map courtesy of Des Moines school district

Several new collaborative spaces are proposed to be added to Des Moines’ middle schools. Rendering courtesy of Shive Hattery Architects|Engineers

New classrooms added to Des Moines’ middle schools will be large with tables and chairs that can be rearranged easily. Nearly 130 new classrooms are proposed to be added to the districts’ 60-plus schools. Rendering courtesy of DLR Group

“This really is a community-based plan that is trying to do more career-focused programming, not only at the high schools and signature schools but also the middle schools,” said Connie Boesen, Des Moines’ mayor. “It’s not something that we’ve been able to do in the past.”

About 20 years ago, the educational focus nationwide was preparing students for college. That focus has shifted to better preparing students for careers in health care, information technology, manufacturing and skilled trades.

“We know that not everyone is going to go to school for a post-secondary education,” said Jeff Lorenzen, CEO of American Equity Life Insurance Investment Co. and a member of a district oversight committee that will review financial reports and monitor construction progress of the initiative.

“We need to be more adaptive at having those students be career-ready at graduation rather than three or four years after they leave high school,” he said. “Employers want to have students who can come in on day one and have a good understanding of the field” in which they are employed.

A strong school system will attract talented employees both from outside of Iowa as well as from nearby communities, Lorenzen said.

“If you have a good school system, people will want to live here and will want their kids to grow up here,” Lorenzen said. “And that will help me as an employer recruit people to work at my business.”

If the referendum does not pass, the district will not be able to attract new students, and schools will likely have to be closed, Boesen said.

In mid-2019, the city of Des Moines launched Invest DSM, a nonprofit group that combines public and private monies to improve the city’s neighborhoods. The program has helped attract new residents to the city and keep existing ones, Boesen said.

“The city has put a whole housing strategy together, and for it to continue working, we need schools in our neighborhoods,” said Boesen, who also was a Des Moines school board member for 14 years. “We’ve seen what happens when schools sit empty in a neighborhood. It’s not good.”

Smith described a grim future for the district if the referendum fails.

“We won’t be as competitive educationally with our neighbors and all of those charter schools that are cropping up,” he said. “Students will have limited access to these amazing programs for kids across our city.

“If enrollment patterns don’t change, that will mean a continued loss of revenue, and there would be staff reductions and more schools being retired. Home values would decline. …If it passes, it’s win, win, win for everyone. It’s lose, lose, lose if it fails.”


How much will my property taxes go up if referendum passes?

If 60% of voters in the Des Moines school district on Tuesday approve a $265 million bond referendum, property owners would see the additional tax on their 2026-27 property tax bills, according to information provided by the district. The additional debt service tax levy of $1.99 per $1,000 of valuation would be in place for 20 years, district officials said.

In the fiscal year that began on July 1, 2020, the school district’s tax rate was $18.61 per $1,000 of valuation. The district’s current tax rate is $14.61. The additional $1.99 would push the rate to $16.60, still below the 2020-21 rate.

According to the Polk County assessor, the average assessed value of a home in Des Moines is $224,000. That homeowner would pay an estimated $211 in additional property taxes annually, or nearly $4,230 over the 20-year life of the general obligation bond.

The average assessed value commercial property in Des Moines is $1.8 million, according to the assessor. That commercial property owner would pay an estimated $3,100 in additional property taxes annually, or $63,500 over 20 years.

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