For years, Polk County’s school districts have annually received money from a penny sales tax to pay for building new facilities and updating and expanding existing ones.

Now, with increased emphasis on hands-on learning and the expansion of programs like preschool, district leaders say revenue from the sales tax isn’t enough to pay for projects they consider essential.

On Tuesday, voters in the Des Moines, Ankeny, Dallas Center-Grimes, Southeast Polk and West Des Moines school districts will decide whether to approve bond referendums that would raise property taxes to pay for a wide range of projects including the construction of new schools and classroom additions, new and expanded athletic facilities and playgrounds, and the purchase of new furniture, technology and science equipment.

The districts’ proposed projects all could be paid for with revenue from the penny sales tax for schools, which will be collected through 2050. But district leaders say the proceeds from the tax isn’t enough to pay for all of the needed improvements, some of which are essential to keep pace with increasing enrollments. In some cases, districts have tied up future sales tax revenue to repay revenue bonds that allowed them to finish projects sooner and avoid escalating construction costs.

“The average age of our facilities is 72 years old,” said Matt Smith, Des Moines’ interim school superintendent. “For the past 10 years or so, we’ve been using the statewide sales tax to improve [heating and cooling] systems, make sure our schools are safe and secure and all of the other things needed to maintain the facilities we have. That revenue is not enough to actually create new programmatic spaces for efficiency as well as student learning.”

The Des Moines school district began receiving revenue from the penny sales tax in July 2000. In that 25-year period, the district has received about $767 million from the tax, or an average of just over $30 million a year. The district has used the money to build new elementary schools; add classrooms, gymnasiums and kitchens at existing buildings; and refurbish auditoriums. In addition, geothermal systems have been installed in about 40 buildings, a move that made the facilities more energy efficient, saving the district money.

“The district has made incredibly smart and wise decisions on how to invest [the sales tax revenue] to create more efficiency and more savings,” Smith said. “It still doesn’t allow us to get all the things done that we would like to get done in terms of facility upgrades.”

Voters in the Des Moines school district on Tuesday will decide whether to approve a $265 million bond referendum to modernize facilities to provide students with 21st-century learning environments. If approved, the district plans on building a new elementary school, adding nearly 130 classrooms districtwide, and developing magnet programs in career and technical education, health sciences and STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) with new technology and equipment in classrooms to support hands-on and project-based learning.

Connie Boesen, Des Moines’ mayor, was part of a committee in 1999 that urged voters to approve a referendum to pass the penny sales tax for schools.

“The sales tax has contributed to a tremendous amount of work in the district,” said Boesen, who also is a former school board member. “But we knew there was never going to be enough money to do all of the things that needed to be done. Our buildings are older, and because of that, it takes more money” to modernize them.

Leaders of other districts also say revenue from the sales tax is not keeping pace with needed school improvements. In Ankeny, voters will decide whether to approve a $130 million bond referendum, $80 million of which would be used to pay for the construction of an Innovative Hub focused on career exploration and advanced coursework for high school students.

Ankeny has used revenue from the schools sales tax to maintain existing buildings, said Samantha Aukes, the district’s chief of communications. “We have a number of buildings in Ankeny that are aging, and projects like [heating and cooling] renovations are quite costly. We use a lot of the sales tax funds to maintain our buildings. We don’t have a lot left over for other things.”

In the past five years, enrollment in the Southeast Polk school district has grown by 7%; district officials expect enrollment to increase by another 400 to 500 students in the next five years, much of it at the elementary school level, Superintendent Dirk Halupnik said. On Tuesday, voters in the district will decide whether to approve a $51 million bond referendum, $40 million of which would be used to construct a new elementary school.

“A new elementary school addresses our enrollment growth and it also allows us to keep our class sizes low,” Halupnik said. “We’ll also be able to add more space for early learning,” including adding more space for preschool and introductory kindergarten classes.

In recent years, the district has used sales tax revenue to pay for the construction of a transportation facility and maintain existing facilities, said Kevin Baccam, Southeast Polk’s chief financial officer. “We believe we’ve used the sales tax dollars wisely and in the manner which the [state] law allows,” he said.

However, Iowa’s economy is struggling, which could negatively affect future sales tax revenue, Baccam said.

“We are concerned about the economy in Iowa and how much money would be raised from the sales tax and how much the district would receive going forward,” Baccam said. “We think the bond referendum is the best way to go right now.”

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History of school sales tax in Iowa

In November 1999, voters in a majority of Polk County school districts approved increasing the sales tax by one cent with proceeds paying to repair schools and build new ones. The election’s outcome made Polk the 10th Iowa county with a penny sales tax for schools.

Over the next few years, voters in nearly every other Iowa county approved increasing the sales tax to pay for school infrastructure projects. In 2009, Iowa lawmakers approved a statewide one-cent sales tax for school building projects with proceeds distributed on a per-pupil basis. Lawmakers approved legislation in 2019 extending the penny tax, known as Secure an Advanced Vision for Education, or SAVE, until Dec. 31, 2050. School districts have used the sales tax to pay for a variety of construction projects and land purchases as well as to lower property taxes.