Referendum Vote Fails in Perham; School Says They Won’t Give Up

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The $58 million bond referendum for the Perham–Dent School District has been rejected.

If passed, a new $39 million high school would have been built along with maintenance and additions to the grade schools.

It’s the special election today here in Perham.

The vote over the $58 million bond for the school district has people flooding the polls.

Voter Matthew Shipman said,”I graduate in Perham High School in 2012 and it was in rough shape then. We need a new school, it’s not equipped for all the new technology coming out and I’d hate to see the other student fall behind.”

Against the idea, Beverly Schmidt said,”We retired people just can’t afford this type of thing. I think they need to be more economical in their thinking and planning.”

The high school was built in 1916, the walls are chipping and there are tripping hazards.

Perham-Dent Superintendent Mitch Anderson said,”There’s some cosmetic things that could be relatively easy to fix. But when you get into the electrical, the plumbing the foundation, those things with a 100 year old building, the task forces recommendation was to build new instead of continuing to dump excessive money into a building that going to eat you away.”

If the referendum does pass, students will stay at the current high school for the next three years until the new one is built next to the current middle school.

If it’s shot down, there isn’t a plan b and possible increases in construction costs may play a factor in the price tag of the project down the road.

“50 million turns into 75 million the way things are going. So, task force was adamant that now is the time to take care of all of our needs. So we’re on a good solid foundation moving forward, and try to get ahead of this big boom that’s coming with construction costs,” said Anderson.

The school district says they will go back to the community for support on this issue.