From P&D Staff Reports

FREEMAN - By a nearly 3-to-1 margin, Freeman voters passed a $3.98 million bond issue Tuesday to help fund a new elementary school.

The bond issue passed 599-237 for 71.65 percent approval, far surpassing the required 60 percent majority.

The district will use the bond issue, along with $2.5 million in capital-outlay funds, to finance the $6.2 million project. The 20-year bond issue will raise taxes $1.40 per $1,000 of taxable valuation.

The 49,000-square-foot building will adjoin the junior/senior high school built in 1975. The new elementary school is slated for fall 2009 completion.

Had the bond issue failed, the district was looking at approximately $3 million in repairs to the 83-year-old elementary school currently in use.

The new elementary school will include 15 classrooms averaging about 900 square feet, or double the current size. The facility will include space for a separate computer lab which will double as the DDN (Dakota Digital Network) room for the high school.