On May 19, 2020, the Des Moines School Board approved a $15 million project to build a football and soccer stadium with Drake University. DMPS held multiple public forums with Drake University in 2019 and early 2020 before taking its plans to the school board. The Board stated, “The Board welcomes the community’s input on any issue surrounding our schools. We have heard from community members on both sides of this issue. The Board made what we feel is the best decision at this time based on all the information we have.”

The only legal recourse provided to the public was to gather signatures to call for a public vote on the use of SAVE funds to build the stadium. Although the group DMPS - Save Our Stadiums submitted a petition with over 7,100 signatures (collected over 14 days during a pandemic which did not allow the group to go door-to-door), the School Board chose to ignore it and continue with plans for the proposed stadium.

State lawmakers even chimed in on the issue, accusing Des Moines school officials of “playing a numbers game” after petitioners opposed to the project gathered over 7,100 signatures in an effort to force a referendum. That was enough to clear the state law’s requirement to equal 30% of the vote in the last school district election. But school officials contended the law required 30% of the total votes cast in the city and county elections, which were held on the same day for the first time in the 2019 election. “That’s sleight of hand, that’s wrong and that’s dishonest action by the Des Moines School Board,” said Sen. Tony Bisignano, D-Des Moines, a fixture in southside Democratic circles for decades. He called the Des Moines school board “arrogant.”

Once scheduled to open in the Fall of 2021, the District cites high construction costs as the reason the proposed stadium is now expected to begin hosting events in the Fall of 2023.

The proposed stadium is intended to be used for high school football and high school and middle school soccer. The District readily admits soccer teams will not be able to play all their home games in the stadium, meaning they will have to find other locations instead. The District will also be responsible for finding buses and drivers to transport hundreds of student-athletes to the proposed stadium for football and soccer games, two things which are already in very short supply. The District also admits it has spent only a minimum amount on maintenance of the existing stadiums over the past 20 years.

We, the undersigned, call upon the Des Moines School Board to call for a public vote on the use of SAVE funds for the proposed DMPS Stadium.