District 518 slated to act on planned $15.3 million referendum

Apr. 9—WORTHINGTON — The District 518 Board of Education is expected to officially act on its plan to ask voters to approve a $15.3 million general obligation bond referendum on Aug. 13.

Superintendent John Landgaard shared the information with members of the Operations Committee during an early Tuesday morning meeting at the school's administration office.

The election date aligns with the Minnesota Primary election, which means the district won't have to assume all of the costs associated with the election.

The referendum seeks money to complete a two-story classroom addition at Worthington High School, renovate the building's kitchen, relocate the school's administrative offices and make additional changes to better align with the building's past additions.

Upon Landgaard's reading of the proposed language for the ballot, board member Erin Schutte Wadzinski noted that the information didn't specifically note the money would be used to improve the high school.

"People are going to be more supportive of allocation of funds if we were more specific," she said. "Do you see an advantage to a question that's really broad?"

Landgaard said the advantage would be if the district didn't spend the full amount of money on the high school, those funds could be used on other district properties, such as middle school improvements.

"It does allow for more flexibility for excess funds," he said. "When we did the intermediate school, it was a broader question also."

Schutte Wadzinski was also concerned about the length of the bond question, saying it uses big words and is convoluted.

"If it could be written at a level that's easier for someone to comprehend that isn't aware of the dialogue," she said.

Landgaard had a scheduled meeting planned Tuesday with the attorneys and said he would inquire about the language, but also noted it's written in the way he's seen it written in any election.

The ballot question led to additional discussion about how the district intends to share the message about the referendum with voters. Landgaard said ICS, the firm they are working with on the building project, has a marketing department in place and they will work on messaging and fliers.

While board member Adam Blume said public meetings aren't generally well attended, Landgaard said they will plan at least one.

"At least you're trying," Landgaard said. "If you have 20 people show up at a public meeting, that's good. It's unfortunate. It's a good opportunity to hear information and be informed."

He recommended scheduling a public meeting in mid-June, just before mail ballots are sent to voters at the end of the month.

Schutte Wadzinski asked that any mailers, to be effective, should be done in two languages — English and Spanish.

In other business, the committee:

* Was notified that Sen. Bill Weber (R-Luverne) is seeking sales tax legislation for six school districts to be reimbursed the sales tax they paid for construction projects. Landgaard said he submitted information on five past projects and five future projects, all of which seek reimbursement of sales tax. Other area districts included in the legislation are Hills-Beaver Creek and Round Lake-Brewster, Landgaard said.

"Last year there were two schools that received approval for sales tax reimbursement — that's why it came up," said Landgaard, noting that if other districts get the break, Worthington and other area schools should as well.

"If we get sales tax reimbursement, that would be a pretty good dollar figure for us," he added.

Thus far, the legislation has only been introduced in the Senate (File 4893).

* Learned there will be approximately 15 non-renewals of teacher contracts coming before the full board for action at the district's April 16 Board of Education meeting. Landgaard said there could be some adjustment yet, and noted that non-renewals are typically done for financial reasons, performance, licensure issues or declining enrollment.

* Heard that the district is working through all of the job points assigned to employees and making adjustments as needed. Once the task is completed, the full board will review the adjustments at its May meeting.

* Received an update on a request made by the American Civil Liberties Union for documents, data and related information to the previously proposed Policy 606.1, which was never adopted by the District 518 Board of Education. Policy 606.1 was presented as an updated policy to 606. The school board ultimately chose to update its existing policy 606 regarding what flags teachers can display in classrooms.

"Right now we have complied with most of what they want," Landgaard said, noting that these kinds of requests become a great deal of work and costly in terms of time. "They did get billed for the first information they requested."

* Was updated on the planned watershed project on District 518 property near the Intermediate School. The analysis of the dam portion of the project showed the elevation was too high, so that is now being redesigned, shared Landgaard. He said the watershed probably won't bid the project until June, with plans to start construction this fall.

* Learned of a 9.9% increase in health insurance renewal costs — information that has been shared with district employees.