KWWL.com - News & Weather for Waterloo, Dubuque, Cedar Rapids & Iowa City, Iowa | District sells school buildings

District sells school buildings

HAMPTON (KWWL) - With shrinking budgets, some school districts are making tough calls on how to save money.  One small eastern Iowa district is in the process of selling two of its buildings.  Monday night, the Hampton-Dumont School Board will open bids on the sale of the former Intermediate School in Dumont.  Earlier this year, the district sold the former middle school in Hampton but it's still using the building for some activities but not on Sunday mornings.

The pews are auditorium seats.  The pulpit is the stage at the Church of the Living Word in Hampton.  The church bought the former middle school earlier this year.  Sale price?  $1.

"We were looking for a space that would be used by other people because we only need it a couple times a week so it was kind of a great fit," said pastor Jon Anderson.

Now, the district pays rent to use the auditorium and gym for school activities.

"That was our goal. To find a group to come in here and maintain the building yet still allow the school to do whatever they needed to do as far as dates for performances because we really had no other venue," said School Board president Ron Raney.

The district was paying $90,000 a year to maintain the building.  Raney says with state funding cuts, it was sell buildings or cut jobs.

"We always want to keep cuts away from students so that would be close...cutting teachers is a last resort," said Raney.

Now, the church is preparing for growth while also making space available for other groups who need it.

"We kind of see this as we've been entrusted with this space so we hope we'll take care of it well and serve the people who come in here," said Anderson.

The buildings in Hampton and Dumont were no longer being used as classrooms.  The church has already made roof repairs in Hampton.  Work is now underway to repair a boiler.  The school board will open bids at its meeting Monday night.  Right now, school board members say 6 groups have said they want to buy the building.  The meeting is at 5:30 p.m. at the School District's Administrative Offices in Hampton.

Online Reporter:  Bob Waters