09/23/2026
HKHS BUILDING REFERENDUM THURSDAY
The referendum on the HK High School building project is coming up this Thursday. I will vote YES, because it is a comprehensive solution that preserves outstanding features of our high school and captures substantial assistance from the state.
Through strong bipartisan advocacy, we were able to get a space waiver that enables us to keep and renew all educational spaces and classrooms, the auditorium, the field house, the swimming pool, and the tech education space. We captured an enhanced 50 percent reimbursement for renovation of the playing fields, instead of a 25 percent. The state will foot 51 percent of our costs instead of 50 percent. And we can get the project started this year—time is money, of course.
HK’s tech ed program—including the media center—is the envy of other districts. Our track teams and swim teams have achieved state-level success. Project Lead the Way is an innovative pre-engineering and technology education program, and HKHS was named a PLTW Distinguished High School. We can be proud that our schools serve a broad range of student interests and career paths under one roof.
Our programs are outstanding, but our current facility is dated and is failing in many ways. Experts have estimated that the annual cost of repairs just to keep the high school livable could equal the carrying cost of the bonds for a renovated school—without adding the value of overall improvement and renewal.
No institution is perfect. RSD 17 has had some fiscal struggles in the past. But the district’s budgeting and forecasting have improved substantially over the past year. Let’s not let perfection be the enemy of the good: if we wait, we will have to renegotiate the whole agreement with the state, and everything will cost more.
Our schools are the biggest asset of our community. Actually, no: our young people are the biggest asset of our community and our country. This school project is expensive, and I urge our selectmen to take steps to relieve the burden on the most financially stressed of our community, such as making our renter’s relief program more progressive. In the meantime, a YES vote on the current referendum is a fiscally prudent investment in the future of all of us.
Cathy Iino
