Harrisburg Passes $60 Million School Bond

One of the fastest growing school districts will have more space for students in the coming years.

According to Dakota News Now, the voters of Harrisburg passed a $60 million school bond on Tuesday. 809 people voted in favor of the measure while 168 voted against it, according to the Harrisburg School District website.

Funds raised from the sale of those bonds will build two buildings. A new middle school will be constructed near 69th Street and Southeastern Avenue and a freshman academy will be built in the vicinity of 85th Street and Cliff Avenue.

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The growth in upcoming grades is the biggest concern for leadership in the Harrisburg School District. The enrollment for sixth, seventh, eighth, and ninth grades is already north of 1,700. The current capacity of the high school is 1,650.

So just how fast has Harrisburg grown? Over the last 20 years, the district has grown by 592 percent. Amazingly it is also the third largest district in South Dakota.

When I graduated Beresford High School in 1995, Harrisburg was a small school. They were our biggest rival in football in 11B and the Big Sioux Conference, and were in Class A in Basketball and the other three class sports. They last won the 11B title in 1999. With the growth that accelerated in the 21st century, they moved up in all of those sports. In 2020, Harrisburg lost to Brandon Valley in the championship game of the state's largest class, 11AAA.

The city of Harrisburg is growing, but it doesn't hurt that a great deal of the Harrisburg school district territory sits within Sioux Falls' southeastern city limits.