Helena High, PAL groundbreaking marks school bond milestone

The north side of Helena High School became the district’s public checkpoint as Helena Public Schools marked its Brews and Blueprints Helena High + PAL groundbreaking at 1300 Billings Ave. The ceremony turned the 2025 bond vote into a visible campus milestone, with a $147.1 million Helena High budget folded into a $240 million high school bond and a $43 million elementary bond for a combined $283 million package.

District materials say the goal is to get students into new or updated facilities by Fall 2028, which leaves a long list of work still ahead. Design refinement, site preparation, demolition and construction sequencing all remain part of the path from voter approval to a functioning campus, even as the district keeps the existing gym and builds PAL into the south wing of the new Helena High building.

Helena Public Schools has argued the schedule is urgent. The district says its buildings average nearly 75 years old, excluding the three new elementary schools opened in 2019, and that it carries about $100 million in deferred maintenance districtwide. At Helena High, the original 1955 steam heating system is described as nearing failure, and district officials have said there are very few HVAC technicians in the greater Northwest region who can service it.

The bond effort moved through a public vote in September 2025, and trustees certified the results on Sept. 24, 2025, formally shifting the district into planning for a three-year facilities overhaul. That plan includes rebuilding Helena High, constructing a new Kessler Elementary School, renovating Capital High School, and adding a new district kitchen, PAL and activities and athletic facility.

The financial and tax impacts are also beginning to take shape. Helena School Bond materials say both the elementary bond and the high school bond will appear on tax rolls in the 2026-27 fiscal year, with the high school levy structured to carry fewer mills early on until two existing school bonds are paid off in 2037 and 2039. District materials also point to construction inflation as a major factor, noting that three new elementary schools were estimated at $53.1 million in 2018 and at $86 million in 2025.

Earlier community meetings showed floor plans for the reimagined Helena High campus, which is intended to deliver energy-efficient classrooms, a fully compliant kitchen and fire suppression system, improved gym and multipurpose spaces, and infrastructure for future educational needs. For Helena families, taxpayers and staff, the groundbreaking made one thing clear: the bond debate is over, and the harder test is now whether the district can deliver on time, on budget and with the campus disruptions it has promised to manage.