SAUK RAPIDS -- It is likely the residents in the Sauk Rapids-Rice school district will be asked to approve a referendum this fall to pay for a brand new Pleasantview Elementary school.

Superintendent Aaron Sinclair says they will make a decision on a ballot question at their August 5th meeting. He says it would be just one question asking for $36.5 million to build a new school on the current Pleasantview site.

He says this is what the residents who have attended a series of public information meetings have been asking for.

Every step along the way we've really responded to what the community has indicated they want, and as a school district we have tried to do our best to honor exactly what the community has said they are looking for.  Really the number one issue that we hear over and over again was to do something with Pleasantview Elementary.

He says they're putting together a plan to build a new school on the current site.

We're essentially going to construct a new building with the current building still in session until we get to a point where we'll transfer kids to the new building, then we'd demo the old building and turn that into green space and parking.

Sinclair says they are planning for the building to hold about 800 students.

Sinclair says if it is approved, the property tax increase on a $182,000 home would be about $6.85 a month. He says the current referendum on the high school will be coming off the books in five years, after which property taxes would come back down.

This year's election day is Tuesday, November 5th.

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