School bond will not affect property taxes

Looking to avoid property tax increases for taxpayers while making necessary repairs to aging infrastructure, the Clarke Community School Board is proposing the issuance of a SAVE (Secure an Advanced Vision for Education) bond of approximately $18,000,000 for just that; a public hearing on the matter is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. Jan. 12, 2026, at the Central Administration Office, 802 One Tribe Drive.

Formerly known as the “statewide school infrastructure sales and services tax, local option sales and services tax,” SAVE provides funds to public schools for infrastructure projects with funding through the 1-cent sales tax. The sales tax was established in the 1990s by the Iowa Legislature and gives school districts an alternate way to produce revenue as opposed to property tax increases when it comes to infrastructure and technology needs.

“This is money that is generated through the 1-cent statewide penny sales tax, allocated for school districts to use, and the public hearing provides the district the authority to allocate the dollars for identified needs or improvements,” Clarke Community Schools Superintendent Kurt DeVore said. “There are some very specific things that we can use SAVE funds for school infrastructure needs, [this is] authorizing us to have the ability to use those dollars and bond against those dollars. This is not a property tax increase.”

SAVE bonds differ from general obligation bonds in that GO bonds affect property taxes while SAVE bonds do not. SAVE funds are allocated to public school districts based on student enrollment numbers. Annually, Clarke receives approximately $2 million.

According to the Iowa Department of Education, SAVE funds can be used only for public school infrastructure needs, and only those listed in a school’s revenue purpose statement. A section of Clarke’s revenue purpose statement, which passed Nov. 7, 2023, by a vote of 583 to 266, reads,

“To provide funds to build and furnish a new school building or buildings; to build and furnish addition(s) to school buildings in the District; to remodel, reconstruct, repair, expand and improve the school buildings in the District; to purchase and improve grounds; for demolition work; to furnish and equip district facilities.”

At this time, the school is looking to use the funds to remodel, repair, improve, furnish and equip the elementary and middle/high schools to include HVAC system upgrades, restroom improvements and floor, ceiling and painting updates as a result of those improvements.

SAVE bonds can also be utilized for school district property tax relief.

While the Clarke School Board is looking to authorize an issuance of $18 million, they do not intend to borrow the full amount on this project. By authorizing $18 million now, any remaining funds from this initial project would still be available to bond against without the need to go through the request and authorization process each time for any future projects.

“The only reason you go to the maximum is so that every time you need it to do a project, you don’t have to go through the process,” Clarke School Board member Brad Lampe said.

“This is a formality, a process we go through to get to the point so we can use those dollars,” DeVore said. “So we authorize that amount but the improvement project is not the whole amount. There’s isn’t any intent in going up to that full amount with this project.”

Any project still requires board approval to proceed and bond against SAVE funding.

“We’re approving to go borrow against it, but we then have to approve any dollars we’re pulling from it,” Clarke School Board President Wendy Short said.

The dollars bonded against would be paid back out of the SAVE funds received by the school over a series of fiscal years.

A notice of the public hearing appears in the legal section of this paper.