Enrollment in the Three Creek Joint School District has tripled in the past year. It now has three students.

Voters in the tiny community — about 35 are registered — will consider a $240,000 bond election March 30 for a new facility to complement its one-room building for K-through-8 students.

“It’s not really an addition to the school but a gym and storage area — kind of a multipurpose room. Right now, we’re flat-out of storage,” said Harlan Mink, chairman of the school board.

Mink said most of the needed storage is for tables, excess computers, and books. The bond issue financing is not projected to go beyond 20 years, Mink said.

The closest thing to a municipality is Rogerson, an unincorporated town of 65 people 36 miles away.

While enrollment is three times more than it was a year ago, the school recently lost a student when a family moved. Mink addressed the low enrollment.

“Having three students looks bad. It looks bad to us, too,” he said. “It just goes in cycles. You’ll get back up to 10 — we’ve had as many as 18 — but one family moving out can be a wreck for us.”

A school of fewer than five (counting the teacher) makes “Little House on the Prairie” look like a documentary about Detroit, but Mink said he expects enrollment to increase again.

“We should have three or four students starting in the fall, so we have kids coming on, but it’s no guarantee,” he said. “A family could take another job and move.”

Mink acknowledged that the school is uncommonly small but said the district is “proud of what we can do here” — graduates of the school typically commute to Filer for nearly three hours per day — and said the number of students at a given time shouldn’t dissuade planning for the future.

“It’s a sign of the times … but otherwise, if you’re going to be in business, you’ve got to act like you’re in business.”

The district’s contingency budget — “loosely designated” to the proposed project, Mink said —was recently reduced from $60,000 to $40,000.

“Whenever we see the news coming out of Boise, we reduce what we can spend,” he explained.

The bond proposal follows a one-year levy of $20,000, passed by 29 voters in June, to replace a water line and develop plans for the new building.

The anticipated interest rates for the new bond issue are between 2 and 6 percent. Repayment of the principal and interest is expected to be $365,020. Bonds may be issued in a series not to exceed 20 years, according to the legal specifications. A portion of the interest is expected to be paid by the state’s Bond Levy Equalization Program, but the amount depends upon legislative action each year.

If the bond passes, Mink speculated that the new building could be constructed and ready by mid-October.

There’s no reason to get up early to vote. The election takes place between 1 p.m. and 9 p.m. March 30 at the Three Creek School. Eligible voters reside in the district boundary that overlaps Twin Falls and Owyhee counties.

DamonHunzeker may be reached atdhunzeker@magicvalley.com or 735-3204.