Graphic courtesy's of Minneota Public School. A concept of what classrooms could look like inside Minneota Public School if a referendum passes on Feb. 11. Below: The conceptual floor plan for the 2025 referendum details a draft of an additional 18,000 square feet for site improvements.

MINNEOTA — Minneota Public School is seeking out a bonding bill to address building repairs and site improvements. The referendum vote takes place for residents on Feb. 11 at the Minneota Community Center.

The total referendum request is for $24.815 million, but will be split between two separate bonds, each getting its own vote.

The first part of the bill, and first question on the ballot, asks approval for bonds to not exceed $11,725,000 for site upgrades. Changes under part one include updating restrooms for ADA accessibility, removal of asbestos, improvements to electric, air quality, heating and cooling, hot water plant and wrestling room ventilation.

Also mentioned are roof upgrades to fix durability and drainage, window and door replacements, reconstructing the current parking lot, getting a dual-fuel boiler system for heating and reducing energy costs, and a new air-cooled chiller.

The second part of the referendum can only pass if the first question passes the votes. The second question asks approval for bonds to not exceed $13,090,000 to assess more interior needs.

“Question two is truly about space and opportunities … We’re looking to do some new and exciting things,” Minneota superintendent Scott Monson said. “If question two weren’t to pass, we’re still going to have space challenges. We’re still going to have less than ideal learning situations for our kiddos and our staff. I think that that’s probably one of the biggest things.”

Changes under part two would include new designed spaces throughout the school.

The elementary school enhancements include three new classrooms and a STEM lab. The CTE workshops would be modernized and a new learning commons would be built. There would be additions to the cafeteria and multi-use space, and a relocated wrestling room to accommodate a larger size for activity space. Lastly, Minneota is looking to install new playground equipment, a community storm shelter and a new parking lot for the new building additions.

If passed, the bonding bill will be split between taxpayers and the Ag2School tax credit.

For farmers and agricultural land owners, the Ag2School credit, which comes from the State of Minnesota, is a 70% property tax credit for land owners. The credit program is an automatic dollar-for-dollar credit that does not require an application.

“Somebody at the open house last night asked, ‘Do I have to pay taxes on that tax credit?’ No, it’s not considered income or anything like that. It’s just essentially an automatic 70% reduction,” Monson said.

If both referendum questions were to pass, Ag2School will pay $13.1 million of the total $24.8, nearly the amount of the second proposed bond total, and about 53% of the projected total cost.

For agricultural tax impact, homestead owners with a $15,000 average value per acre can expect a $0.16 monthly raise. $10,000 average per acre will run about $0.11 monthly.

“That’s pretty significant for rural Minnesota schools, and that’s why we, along with our ag folks in our school districts, lobbied so hard to get this,” Monson said.

For non-homestead, owners with a $15,000 average value per acre can expect a $0.21 monthly raise. $10,000 average per acre will run about $0.21 monthly.

If both referendum questions pass, residential home owners with a $200,000 home would expect an approximate $12.27 per month tax increase. A $100,000 will run about $4.47 monthly, and $400,000 is estimated with a $27.88 monthly increase.

These estimated costs can vary slightly depending on market value, and would be less if just the first bond passes.

One of the public worries has been the uncertainty regarding the Ag2School credit.

“At the first two open houses, people asked me point blank, ‘Can you guarantee that the Ag2School tax credit is going to be here forever?’ It’s an impossible question, because nobody can guarantee anything,” Monson said. “Do I think it’s going to be here forever? I do, because it was strong bipartisan support. It was schools working with agriculture entities. It’s good for rural Minnesota.”

If that were to happen, Monson said Minneota would have a backup plan to work with other districts.

“I also think if it did get taken away, we would probably get grandfathered in any district that had an operating levy that had passed while the Ag2School tax credit was in place. We would get grandfathered in until those bonds were paid off,” Monson said.

Another public concern has been the extent to what the site improvements would have on a student’s learning experience.

“I’ve realized that’s an educational area that we as a district, absent of having a referendum, need to be better at. Helping all of our residents understand that we educate kids differently now than we did 20 or 30 years ago,” Monson said. “As a result of that, sometimes the space needs to adjust or evolve with the way we educate kids.”

Minneota has had some building updates over the years like redoing the locker rooms around 2014, and the auxiliary gym in the early 2000s.

“We did have a failed building bond referendum in November of 2021,” Monson said. “The cafeteria that we’re proposing in question number two was included in the November of 2021 referendum as well. But, there’s a lot of differences, too.”

The referendum discussion first began in February 2023, and a large contributing factor was Minneota’s increase in enrollment. The school, K-12, currently has nearly 600 students.

“The Department of Education has online enrollment records dating back to 1999, and we’ve never had that many students in our building since 1999,” Monson said. “We’ve seen this enrollment growth even with 30 or 40 students over the last two to three years. So, we are literally out of space.”

There will be a final listening session hosted by district leadership held on Feb. 4 in conference room 103 at 6 and 7 p.m.

If the bill passes, Monson said he would expect construction to start the summer of 2026, and would most likely need until January of 2027 to finish up part two, with the hope of getting students into the new spaces by February of 2027.

“We have incredible staff, we truly do. They’re amazing people, and we have great kids,” Monson said. “I like to say, ‘How can we get ready for the 22nd century? That’s what this is about.”

All referendum information and conceptual site plans can also be found online at sites.google.com/minneotaschools.org/ref25.

In addition to the Feb. 11 voting date, residents are also able to vote now during the in-person absentee voting period that runs until Feb. 10, Monday to Friday, at the Minneota Public Schools District Office.

“I will never tell anybody how to vote,” Monson said. “This is our school district. Let’s make sure we’re making a collectively collaborative decision about the future of our school district and being informed on that.”