Voters who want school improvements — but want them on their terms — got just what they ordered Monday night.

The District 423 School Board’s plan for upgrading schools appears to satisfy voters’ desires for fiscal responsibility while accomplishing the goal of upgrading or replacing old, worn-out buildings.

Under the plan, which will likely appear on the Nov. 4 ballot, voters will be asked to approve a $36.7-million plan to upgrade Hutchinson High School, the worst of the district’s buildings. Money now spent operating the building is money down the drain. The high school is a sieve when it comes to energy efficiency. The School Board’s plan includes tearing down two classroom wings and replacing them with a single, energy-efficient multistory wing. A new gym will also be added. Other improvements also are planned, including the replacement of the building’s heating and cooling system.

Voters who say “yes” to the high school improvements will also have the opportunity to support $21.9 million in improvements for the elementary grades. That part of the plan includes tearing down a functionally inadequate wing at Park Elementary and replacing it with a grades 2-3 building at West Elementary.

We believe this plan delivers what voters have asked for. The School Board has listened to taxpayers and has done its research. It has recruited local experts who have volunteered their time to examine the condition of our school buildings. Finally, last month, it conducted an open house to hear voters’ concerns again.

Three messages
Superintendent Daron Vanderheiden said the board learned three important messages from voters after other school building votes failed in 2002 and 2006:

1) Keep Park Elementary as an educational institution. This plan does that.

2) Don’t build a new high school on the 80 acres the school district owns at the intersection of School Road and South Grade Road. This plan doesn’t touch that land.

3) Keep it affordable. This plan is significantly more affordable than the 2006 plan, which called for a new high school costing $47.8 million, adding a new high school auditorium and athletic facilities costing $6.7 million, and converting the exiting high school into an elementary school at a cost of $23.3 million.

There’s one more thing voters asked for and the School Board has delivered: drawings of what would be changed. In 2006, a tiny model of the new high school was developed. This time, several drawings of buildings exteriors, plus drawings of building interiors, are available for your study. Those drawings were shown at the June open house and can be viewed by contacting the district’s Central Office at (320) 587-2860. The Leader also will publish these drawings in upcoming issues.

Learn all you can
Now it is up to voters to study the plan and give their opinion in the form of a vote. Everyone’s going to have a say on this issue because votes will be cast at the general election.

Supporters will not be focused only on getting “yes” voters to the polls because that approach would backfire. The sheer number of voters involved in deciding this issue would make the approach implausible. We commend the School Board for throwing this issue wide open to the largest number of voters possible.

This time, everyone who votes for John McCain or Barrack Obama can cast a vote for or against the school upgrade plan. For that reason, we think it’s important that a large-scale campaign be launched to get as much information out as possible. We also encourage the campaign to be wary of advice from consultants employed by architects and contractors. Their advice didn’t work in 2006, and there’s no reason to believe it will work today.

What’s needed this time is a good, old-fashioned campaign staffed by an army of volunteers who distribute information door to door and to civic groups. We also hope the campaign will include more open houses where the public can glean information. If those open houses take place, we will encourage the public to attend and ask questions.

The future of our children’s education depends on knowledgeable voters. Our school district’s children should expect nothing less.

Editorials are written by Publisher Matt McMillan and Editor Doug Hanneman. They can be reached at mcmillan@hutchinsonleader.com, or hanneman@hutchinsonleader.com.