School District Residents Empowered

By Steve Zaiser
Contributing Writer

KUDOS to the Fargo School Board! This past Tuesday [26th of October] the Fargo School Board took a bold step forward in passing a policy motion, on a 7 to 1 vote, to provide residents of the Fargo School District with the opportunity to provide an up or down vote on proposed new school funded via bond sales using the so-called building authority means of funding.

The board passed this initiative after previous Fargo school boards had resisted doing so for several years, claiming it was neither required nor appropriate to have the citizen’s vote on such an initiative based upon a vote cast in 1990 by Fargo School District residents. Only school board member Paul Meyers voted against the initiative Tuesday night to allow the citizens the opportunity to provide a yea or nay vote of the residents when there is a proposal to construct a new school using the so-called building authority method of funding construction, which essentially would involve the sale of bonds to acquire the cash required to construct the proposed school project.
Kudos also go out to residents of the Fargo School District for their increasing expressions of frustrations and their unabating willingness to express those frustrations publicly with regard to the lack of accountability that existed in the process of funding school projects utilizing the so-called building authority method.  Thank you to all of those citizens who shared their views on this issue regarding a public vote on certain school projects in such a frank and candid manner.

While I was out on the campaign trail running for re-election as a District 21 representative to the North Dakota House of Representatives representing the central portions of Fargo, I did not hear even one person express a position contrary to the need for voting on whether bonds should be issued to facilitate the construction of a new school within the Fargo School District.  Having visited with well over a thousand folks on the campaign trail this early fall, I was pleasantly surprised by the overwhelming support that apparently exists within Fargo for the desire of property owners to have a voice in the decisions made to construct new schools.

Yes, you the citizens, at least those of you living in District 21 whom I was fortunate enough to catch at home when knocking on your door, ought to be proud of your perseverance in standing strong in support of voting on a proposed new school if the funding for the proposed school is planned to be derived from the sale of revenue bonds.
Because I’ve had many questions regarding the ethics and legality of selling bond for the purpose of constructing a new school building without a vote of the people, in 2007 I requested a legal opinion from the North Dakota Attorney General containing several questions about the legality of building authorities, their role and relationship to the people as well as their relationship to the school board, and whether bond sales could proceed without a vote of the people.  When that opinion was handed down in early 2008, the issue became more prominent in the eyes of many Fargo School District residents as the opinion request as well as the opinion got plenty of coverage in the local media.
Now, after the school board’s decision on Tuesday, all proposed new schools to be funded by the sale of bonds within the Fargo School District would require a 50% plus one vote for the project to continue moving forward.  That, I believe, is how it should be and what I have been advocating and fighting to accomplish for many years. 

Again, I commend the Fargo School District, in particular John Strand, for his perseverance and belief over many years that voting on the sale of bonds to construct a new school was the correct thing to do.  John never waivered from that view and ultimately with the help of many foot soldiers (the people) supporting that effort and the foresight of the current school board, we now will be able to vote prior to the sale of bonds to construct a school within the Fargo School District.
Moving forward, I believe the school board’s actions will go far in creating a better partnership in the education of our next generation, keeping Fargo and its public education system one of the finest, and thus one of our most important economic development tools alive and flourishing. Fargo deserves a healthy and more vital relationship between its school district and the residents of the city. This appears to be a clear win-win situation for all involved.  Congratulations!

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[Editor’s Note: Steve Zaiser is District 21 State Representative.]

See video excerpt from this meeting:

“Information is the currency of democracy.” (T.Jefferson). from The People's Press Project on Vimeo.