The clock is ticking. In just five days on Tuesday, Nov. 7, voters will head to the polls to decide a slew of races, including school board, St. Paul Park mayor, three school board members, and whether or not to pass three distinct referendum questions. With $250 million in taxes and three open school board seats to fill, it’s not a contest to sit out.

As to school board, there are eleven officially registered candidates: Randall J. Johnson, Fekadu Kassa Ayichew, Chad Borseth, Molly Schaefer, Priscilla Kathryn Dimbo, Simi Patnaik, Anthony Mahmood, Melinda Dols, Jaime Kokaisel, Ryan Clarke, and Satonia Moore.

All officially registered candidates were offered a chance to respond to a Journal questionnaire as a way to express themselves to voters. Of those, nine responded, being those who also participated earlier in the videotaped Candidate Forum through the South Washington County Telecommunications Commission. Their answers appear elsewhere in this paper.

Among other school related decisions to make this Nov. 7 are three separate referendum questions related to schools, two for bonds and one for a capital projects “technology levy.” A  majority vote is needed for each question to pass, with the additional stipulation that the approval of question 2 regarding elementary schools has been made dependent on passage of question 1, addressing middle and high schools.  If question 1 does not pass, question 2 fails as well. A blank space on a ballot question will not be counted, so that voters must actively mark ‘yes’ or ‘no’ if they wish to vote on a particular question. Altogether, the text of the three referendum questions is as follows:

School District Question 1: Approval of Bonds for Secondary Schools

Shall the board of Independent School District No. 833 (South Washington County Schools), Minnesota be authorized to issue general obligation school building bonds in an amount not to exceed $160,875,000 for acquisition and betterment of school sites and facilities including, but not limited to, safety and security enhancements at secondary schools?

School District Question 2: Approval of School Building Bonds Elementary Schools.

If District Question 1 is approved, shall the board of Independent School District No. 833 (South Washington County Schools), Minnesota be authorized to issue general obligation school building bonds in an amount not to exceed $40,350,000 for acquisition and betterment of school sites and facilities including, but not limited to, expansions of elementary schools expected to exceed capacity projections and renovations for bathrooms at five elementary schools?”

School District Question 3: Revoke and Replace Capital Project Levy Authorization for Technology

The board of Independent School District No. 833 (South Washington County Schools, Minnesota has proposed to revoke its existing capital project levy authorization in the amount of 1.820 percent times the net capacity of the School District and replace it with a new capital project levy authorization in the maximum amount of 2.668 percent times the net tax capacity of the School District. The proposed capital project levy authorization will raise approximately $5,000,000 for taxes first levied in 2023, payable in 2024, and would be authorized for ten (10) years. The estimated total cost of the projects to be funded over that time period is approximately $50,000,000. The proposed authorization will provide funds for the acquisition and installation of improved instructional technology, technology systems, and technology support staffing.

Shall the revocation of the existing capital levy authorization and the replacement with a new capital project levy authorization proposed by the board of Independent School District No. 833 (South Washington County Schools), Minnesota be approved?

That’s a lot of text. So what’s it all mean? Read on.

Breaking it down, Question 1 includes approximately $25 million for safety and security enhancements, $105 million for high school renovations and $30 million for a previously planned expansion at Oltman Middle School as well as renovations at Woodbury Middle School.

As to Safety and Security enhancements, the plan calls for construction of new secured entryways and the relocation of main offices at Cottage Grove, Lake, and Woodbury Middle School. In addition, Park High would see renovation to consolidate student services space for visitor security and the relocation of the main office and support services to a consolidated location. Woodbury High School would see construction of a new secure entry and student services wing along with realignment of the parking lot to increase pedestrian safety.

For renovations, the bond-financed plan as envisioned called for construction of a new cafeteria and kitchen at Park High, as well as renovation of the Career and Technical Education (CTE) and STEM/robotics area, adding additional CTE space.

For Woodbury High, the renovations would include the same items as at Park along with renovation of the media center. For East Ridge High, the plan calls for cafeteria expansion along with more CTE and STEM space, as well as construction of a previously planed addition to bring school capacity at East Ridge to 2,300 students.

Closing out with more details on the middle school revisions, the plan calls for additional classrooms (including for STEM and special education) to increase capacity at Oltman to approximately 1,300 students, also expanding the cafeteria and kitchen serving areas and adding new STEM and special education spaces. Renovations at Woodbury Middle School would remodel the old pool area for additional educational space.

Approving Question 1 as above would result in a total price tag of approximately $160 million.

Dependent in turn on the passage of Question 1, approving Question 2 would see approximately $40 million in changes to elementary schools.

More specifically, Question 2 calls for $31 million to construct classroom additions at Bailey, Grey Cloud, Pine Hill and Red Rock Elementary (all projected to exceed capacity), along with construction of a new cafeteria and kitchen at Bailey and Grey Cloud, but to have only two usable gym spaces when the third is used as a cafeteria.

The new cafeteria and kitchen plans are due to projections of these schools exceeding 700 students.

In addition to the above, approving Question 2 would fund $9 million in construction of additional bathrooms at schools containing a single set and four stalls, these being Crestview, Hillside, Pine Hill, Pullman, and Royal Oaks Elementary.

Should Question 2 fail, it would result in turn with boundary changes being implemented for the 2024-25 school year.

Also on the ballot for referendum questions, a capital project levy to fund technology expenses would provide $50 million spread over 10 years, beginning with taxes first levied in 2021 and payable in 2022. Said levy, which would represent 3.383 percent of the net tax capacity for ISD 833, would then replace the current levy authorization for an amount totaling 1.820 percent of the net tax capacity of the school district.

If approved, the money raised from the new capital projects levy would fund cybersecurity, instructional software, devices and repairs, and non-instructional software to be used by Student Information, Finance, Human Resources, Transportation and Nutrition Services.

Passage of the capital projects levy for technology expenses would free up $1.5 million in unassigned general fund dollars as well as operating capital and provide a dedicated revenue source for technology. Planning for future projects could be made in the knowledge that technology costs had a revenue source.

Failure to pass the levy for technology expenses would draw these same costs from the general fund and limit technology support and device maintenance for staff, while device upgrade cycles would be delayed.