Photos above: An $80 million Innovative Hub would be built in the Ankeny school district if voters approve a $130 million bond referendum on Tuesday. The Hub, which is estimated to cost $80 million, would offer career and technical education programs to high school students, including agriculture, health care and robotics programs. Renderings by Invision Architecture

High school students in Ankeny would benefit the most from $130 million in improvements proposed at district facilities, which include additions at both high school campuses, upgrades to athletic facilities and construction of an Innovative Hub.   

Voters in the Ankeny school district on Tuesday will decide whether to approve a bond referendum to pay for the projects. To pass, 60% of voters must approve the measure. 

The main component of the referendum is an $80 million Innovative Hub that would be built at the south end of Northview Middle School’s campus at 1302 N. Ankeny Blvd. 

The Hub, which would serve about 500 students, would offer career and technical education programs, including in health care and agriculture.

If the referendum is approved by voters, the district officials would move forward with a plan to move ninth grade students to the high school, Samantha Aukes, the district’s chief of communications, said. “Students now change schools at least three times [between kindergarten and graduation]. We’re looking to reduce that to two.”

Currently, two middle schools house the district’s sixth and seventh graders, while eighth and ninth graders attend two other middle schools. The district’s two high schools include 10th, 11th and 12th grades. The Ankeny school board has approved a plan to move ninth grade to the high schools; middle schools would include sixth through eighth grades.

“In order to make that change, we need to be able to have high school students taking courses at a facility like the Innovative Hub during the day,” Aukes said. 

Other projects included in the referendum are:

• Additions at both Ankeny High School and Ankeny Centennial High School. The additions include new athletic performance centers with indoor turf and practice facilities. Also planned are additional instrumental and vocal classrooms and storage space at the two facilities. Estimated cost of the addition and upgrades is $37 million.
• New turf for baseball and softball fields, estimated to cost $6 million.
• Upgrades to the east side of Ankeny stadium, estimated to cost $7 million.

The district, on its website, indicates that property taxes will not increase if the bond referendum is approved. The proposal “maintains the district’s current debt service ceiling — it will not increase it,” the website says.

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