Des Moines Public Schools is asking voters to approve a $265 million general obligation bond.

The recent arrest of former-Superintendent Ian Roberts shook the public's trust in the Des Moines Public Schools.

With cans of spray paint, masking tape and a ladder balanced precariously in stairwells, Moulton Elementary Principal Eddie McCulley has spent many school breaks over the last nine years brightening the school's halls and walls with rainbows and graffiti art.

McCulley refers to his beautification efforts as "putting lipstick on a pig." Moulton's cheerful, if dated, interior is a mashup of a former 1904 high school and a more recent 2000 addition, and paint alone cannot fix the building's many problems, including a leaking roof and windows.

He hopes Des Moines Public Schools' $265

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