Van Buren County Community School District Superintendent Jeremy Hissem is asking the community to weigh in on a proposed $10.1 million addition to the Keosauqua campus that would create a dedicated fifth through eighth grade middle school, with a public hearing scheduled for Wednesday, August 5th, according to a social media post and video update from the district.
The project would be funded by bonding against the district’s SAVE account — the statewide sales tax fund dedicated to school infrastructure — meaning the project would not increase property taxes for Van Buren County residents. “Bonding against SAVE is utilizing sales tax to pay off the bond, not using property tax,” Hissem said in his video update. “So this project in no way will increase your property tax.” The total loan amount, which will include restructuring an existing loan from the Activity Center project, would come to $13.8 million, which Hissem said the district’s SAVE account can support.
The proposed addition would include 12 to 14 new classrooms, dedicated administrative office space, a safe and secure entrance, a new kitchen capable of serving the entire Keosauqua campus, and a commons area specifically for 5th through 8th grade students.
The project is the result of a lengthy community engagement process that followed the defeat of a GEO bond proposal in the fall of 2024. After that vote, the district held town hall meetings and gathered feedback from the community through emails and conversations with board members. In January 2026, the district invited approximately 35 key community stakeholders to review a new Roadmap 2.0 plan and provide input. “They provided us some wonderful feedback,” Hissem said. “We made a few tweaks, a few changes, and with all that this culminated into this project that we feel will move our district forward in the right direction.”
The plan calls for creating a true middle school concept at the Keosauqua campus for grades five through eight, while restructuring how younger grades are housed across the district’s existing buildings. “Our goals are to create a five through eight middle school so we can have a true middle school concept and philosophy,” Hissem said. “We’ll utilize the current buildings to provide the most cost-effective and efficient use of the space. We plan on adding five or six walls at the Harmony Center and turning that into a pre-K three through four two-section elementary, and the Douds Center will just become a pre-K three through four one-section elementary, which will allow us to not have to utilize the three-story building at the Douds Center.”
Hissem acknowledged the district is watching enrollment trends carefully. While Van Buren County’s enrollment has been relatively steady for the past seven to eight years, he noted that rural Iowa as a whole is seeing declining enrollment. “Our enrollment is currently steady,” he said. “For the last seven, eight years, we’ve been pretty much going up and down, but our line is pretty steady. But as we see across the state of Iowa, there is a declining enrollment in rural Iowa.” He said the district wants to be proactive rather than reactive. “We want to be able to make sure that we’re making good enough decisions so that when or if that storm comes, we can weather that storm in an effective way. And we really feel like this building and this project will help put us in a really good position.”
Three upcoming events give community members opportunities to learn more and weigh in. A work session will be held Thursday, July 23rd at 5:00 p.m. in the Activity Center classrooms in Keosauqua, where concept drawings from architects and project managers will be presented along with budget information and priorities. A public community meeting is scheduled for Monday, August 3rd at 6:00 p.m. in the Activity Center, and the public hearing is set for Wednesday, August 5th, after which the board will take action on a resolution to borrow against the SAVE fund.
Those with questions or who are unable to attend any of the meetings can contact Superintendent Hissem at jeremy.hissem@vbcwarriors.org or 319-293-3334.
