MCSD school board approves bond resolution
By Terry Murry on Monday, March 3rd, 2025 in Columbia Basin News More Top Stories
MORROW COUNTY – (News release from the Morrow County School District) Morrow County School District’s Board of Directors has voted to place a General Obligation Bond for the district on the ballot. The vote to pass the resolution for the bond was unanimous at its February 10th regular board meeting.
“We are very excited to move forward with the proposed bond for the district, which if passed will provide crucial facility projects across our district, benefiting all our students,” said Richard Cole, Board Chair.
The official vote follows a year of work by the district’s Community Bond Advisory Committee (CBAC), which presented their final bond recommendation to the board in January. The CBAC’s work included comprehensive reviews of all MCSD schools and facilities that were conducted by certified assessors from the Oregon Department of Education. CBAC members reviewed these facility assessments, toured buildings with school principals, reviewed bond financial options and prioritized projects. The CBAC pointed out that their proposed projects do not cover the total facility needs of the district; these projects are the most crucial ones right now.
The public was able to provide feedback about the draft recommendations for several weeks in November and December.
Proposed bond projects include:
- Irrigon Jr/Sr High School (built 1978) – due to severity of structural issues, replace school to provide modern educational environment for students
- Riverside Jr/Sr High School (built 1968) – remodel and build addition for more classroom space & gym to support future enrollment
- Heppner Jr/Sr High School (built 1962 with later additions/remodels) & Heppner Elementary (built 1954 with later additions/remodels) – remodel Jr/Sr High to become a K-12 campus with thoughtful grade level separation, resulting in operational savings and safer location for elementary students
- Sam Boardman Elementary – make parking/traffic flow improvements including dedicated bus loop for safety
- District-wide — make security & safety improvements including secure main entry, cameras & door access control at A.C. Houghton Elementary, Irrigon Elementary, Morrow Education Center, and Windy River Elementary
The district recently was notified that it has qualified for a matching grant of $6 million from the Oregon School Capital Improvement Matching Program (OSCIM). This grant would be provided if the proposed bond is approved by Morrow County voters in the spring.
The amount of the proposed bond is $204.4 million. The estimated bond rate would be $2.99 per $1,000 assessed value and the bond would be for 20 years.
Taxpayers in Morrow County School District are not currently paying for a school district bond nor levy. The last general obligation bond was passed in 2001 and expired in 2021. The last operating levy (which was not for facility construction or upgrades) passed in 2012 and expired in 2016.
According to county tax records, in Morrow County industrial and utility companies pay approximately 71% of the taxes on assessed property values due to the amount of property they own. The Morrow County School Board and CBAC feel that the current situation for funding projects in Morrow County is a positive one for individual taxpayers because a majority of the current tax base is companies.
In the next three months, Morrow County School District will run an information campaign to inform stakeholders about the scope of the bond, its costs and what it will mean for success of students in the district. The best place to find updated information about the bond is on the website page at mcsdbond.org. Or you can email bondinfo@morrowsd.orgor contact the District Office at541-676-5705.
