PIERRE, S.D. (KELO) — Construction of a new public school building in Ramona has been put on hold.
A South Dakota judge this week ordered the project to stop, at least temporarily.
A group of local landowners filed a lawsuit against the Oldham-Ramona-Rutland school district, claiming that an opt-out election didn’t follow South Dakota laws.
The school district wanted the lawsuit dismissed, but Circuit Judge Kent Shelton said it should be heard.
The judge instead issued a preliminary injunction halting construction and further debt-issuance. The landowners want time for a public hearing and potentially a referendum on the opt-out.
The landowners argue that the school district’s $14.7 million opt-out didn’t follow a South Dakota law. The district planned to issue $8 million in bonds in 2025 and $6.7 million in bonds in 2026.
Judge Shelton in his memorandum opinion said the key issue is whether the state law applies to the aggregate amount of capital outlay certificates when those certificates fund a single capital project.
“No current case within South Dakota addresses this issue,” the judge wrote.
The district previously tried four times to issue bonds and a majority of voters said no each time. The landowners want the judge to decide whether the school district adequately explained that the opt-out will take 21 years to pay off. The measure on the referendum ballot referred only to $770,000 and didn’t state that it would continue for another 20 years.
At this point, Judge Shelton is siding with the landowners. “Voters were never asked to approve a 21-year levy, nor were they informed that the opt-out extended beyond a single year. The defect is not procedural but substantial,” he wrote.
The judge also said that the superintendent’s decision to sign a contract with the construction manager two days before the school board meeting may have violated other laws including South Dakota’s open-meeting requirement.
The district meanwhile is also facing a petition calling for it to disband. State law gives the district 180 days to come up with a plan.
Here is a copy of the judge’s preliminary injunction that was issued Monday:
