Skip to main content
Add as a preferred source on Google

Idaho Falls Board of Trustees Approves $250M Bond Proposal

  • By Matt Jones
  • 07/19/22

Last week, the Idaho Falls School District 91 Board of Trustees approved a $250-million bond proposal that would provide funds to renovate and improve several schools within the district. Voters still have to approve the bond issue, which will appear on the ballot in November. Local news reports that trustees have made plans to pay off the district’s existing bond debt in 2023, nine years early than planned, to minimize the cost to the public.

“D91 has been looking at ways to upgrade and improve its facilities—especially Idaho Falls and Skyline—for many years,” said District 91 Superintendent Jim Shank in a letter to staff and parents. “At the same time, the city of Idaho Falls also has seen dramatic growth, resulting in additional concerns such as overcrowding in many of our elementary schools.”

District leaders engaged with the community to determine a long-term facilities plan. If voters approve the bond in November, it would fund three major projects:

The first is the construction of a new high school to replace the existing facility for Idaho Falls High School. The existing campus would be renovated into the new home of the D91 Career Technical Education Center. The second is the repair, remodel, renovation and improvement of Skyline High School. And the third is the construction of two new elementary schools, one brand-new school and one as a new facility for the existing Temple View Elementary School.

District 91 proposed and ran two bond proposals in 2017 and 2018. They were intended for some of the renovation projects listed above, and they received over 50% of the vote but not the supermajority of 66% required to pass.

“D91 did run bonds in 2017 and 2018, but those proposals only addressed the needs at IFHS and Skyline — a new high school and upgrades/improvements to Skyline,” said Margaret Wimborne, district director of communications and community engagement. “Those bond proposals did not include the elementary schools. In both those elections we received 58% of the vote — the majority of community members supported the plans.”

About the Author

Matt Jones is senior editor of Spaces4Learning. He can be reached at [email protected].

Featured

  • Wold Architects & Engineers Announces Acquisition of JJCA

    Wold Architects & Engineers, based in Minneapolis, Minn., recently announced that it has acquired JJCA, an architecture firm based in Nashville, Tenn., according to a press release. JJCA specializes in healthcare and education design; the partnership allows both firms to expand their presence across the country while building on existing strengths.

  • University of Pennsylvania Releases Design of Future Physical Sciences Building

    The University of Pennsylvania (Penn) in Philadelphia, Penn., recently released renderings of an upcoming 350,000-square-foot Physical Sciences Building, according to news release. The facility was designed by CO Architects and will unite the university’s departments of Physics and Astronomy, Mathematics, and Earth and Environmental Science.

  • University of Pittsburgh to Build New Residence Hall

    The Board of Trustees from the University of Pittsburgh in Pittsburgh, Penn., recently approved the construction of a new residence hall for first-year students, according to university news.

  • GeoCam and UCLA: Modernizing Campus Accessibility Mapping

    In early 2025, UCLA partnered with GeoCam to capture and modernize its pedestrian infrastructure data. The goal was ambitious but clear: to produce a high-accuracy, imagery-backed digital map of every sidewalk, pathway, ramp, and ADA-related feature on UCLA’s 419-acre campus.