Stewartville Public Schools asks voters to approve more than $60 million for construction and renovation

Jordan Shearer, Post-Bulletin, Rochester, Minn.
·2 min read

Jul. 13—STEWARTVILLE — Stewartville Public Schools will ask voters to approve more than $60 million in funding that would be used for both renovation and construction projects.

The school district will host a special election in November to decide the issue. It will come on the heels of

voters overwhelmingly rejecting

a smaller funding request in 2022.

Superintendent Belinda Selfors declined to answer questions about the upcoming referendum. Another representative for the school district could not be immediately reached for comment.

However, when the district's last bond request failed to pass last year, the district released a statement on its website, which implied that another funding request could be on the horizon.

"The current challenges of our school facilities are not going away and will need to be solved," the statement from district's website said in 2022. "We will continue to engage families, students, staff, and community members into the process to determine the best solutions and the next steps for the school district."

According to the ballot language that the school board approved Monday, the proposal will be presented to voters in two questions.

The first asks voters to approve $55.67 million that would be used for a new K-2 school building as well as "various improvements throughout the district including new science classrooms at the high school, renovated science, STEM and general purpose classrooms at the Middle school and High School, secure entrances and offices at the Middle School, High School and Bonner Elementary."

The second question asks voters to approve $7.25 million that would be used for a second basketball court at the K-2 school proposed in the first question, a new community fitness center and weight room at the high school, and the renovation of the weight room into a classroom at the middle school.

This year's referendum will arrive just over a year after voters largely rejected a smaller request from the school district. In 2022, Stewartville Public Schools asked voters to approve a total of $38.5 million, which also had been split into two questions on the ballot. Voters rejected both requests by more than 70% of the vote.

In spite of that rather definitive rejection, Stewartville would not be the first school district to make multiple runs at funding request. The school district of nearby Byron

made three different multi-million dollar requests

to voters before ultimately passing a bond in 2021.