Do You Have Questions? Find Your Answers Here.
questions about the process
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Community stakeholders, our school board, district, and administration worked hard to bring a plan forward that best addresses our long-term needs while managing taxpayer dollars wisely. Our physical facility needs were identified nearly a decade ago as we started our long-range facilities planning process to help plan for future maintenance efforts.
We are thankful our district was able to remodel the first and second floors of the 1957 portion of our building using board-approved funding in 2019, however, additional physical facility needs remain and have only increased in urgency since that time. Our maintenance staff has done a good job taking care of our facility, but annual state-provided funds only go so far and cannot address additional physical facility needs that exceed those budgets.
We continued our facilities and long-range planning journey by involving our Facilities Committee; hiring ICS, an experienced K-12 planning and construction management firm, and Baird, our district’s experienced financial consultant; completing a comprehensive facility assessment to understand our school’s physical conditions; hiring The Garland Company to complete an analysis on all remaining roof sections of our school, completing a space utilization efficiency study to determine our current and future space needs; completing a utility analysis, a demographics study, a comprehensive financial analysis, and gathering additional feedback through community listening sessions in October 2023 and May 2024.
After all facility needs were prioritized and discussed, they were presented to the board for further consideration. On Monday, June 17, 2024 the Kingsland School Board unanimously approved the resolution to present two ballot questions to residents on Tuesday, November 5, 2024.
Fortunately, our community chose to approve Question One of the two-question ballot, which will enable the district to address some of our most critical physical facility needs over the next few years, including roofing, building envelope, windows, and additional mechanical, electrical, and infrastructure needs.
Unfortunately, Question Two was not supported by the majority of our voters at that time. Despite that portion of the project not proceeding, the school board is confident that the proposed building addition and facility improvements included in Question Two of our November 2024 referendum are extremely important to meet our students’ and educational programming and space needs.
If the May referendum is approved by residents, improvements from both building bond referendums could be completed as a single project, take advantage of economies of scale, and best position our district for long-term success. The Kingsland School Board has carefully considered this request and is in agreement to bring this proposal back to district residents in May 2025.
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Fortunately, our community chose to approve Question One of our two-question ballot in November 2024, which will enable the district to address some of our most critical physical facility needs over the next few years, including roofing, building envelope, windows, and additional mechanical, electrical, and infrastructure needs.
Unfortunately, Question Two was not supported by the majority of our voters at that time. Despite that portion of the project not proceeding, the school board is confident that the proposed building addition and facility improvements included in Question Two of our November 2024 referendum are extremely important to meet our students’ and educational programming needs. The school board is proposing this bond referendum to voters for the following reasons:
It’s no secret that costs and inflation continue to rise. Ultimately, our facility and educational needs are not going away, and the costs to address them will likely increase the longer we wait.
If the May referendum is approved by residents, improvements from both building bond referendums could be completed as a single project and take advantage of economies of scale, resulting in cost and schedule efficiencies and reducing the disruption to ongoing programs and services. The school board feels that timing these improvements together is the best long-term strategy for our district.
Bond rates continue to remain competitive. However, that could change at any time. Rising bond rates make it more expensive for school districts like ours to borrow money to fund facility projects like ours.
The Kingsland School Board has carefully examined this request and its impact on taxpayers, and is in agreement to provide our residents with another opportunity to consider this facility investment on Tuesday, May 13, 2025.
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Our Facilities Committee has been involved from the beginning of this process to help further understand, identify, and prioritize our facility needs.
This committee included School Board Director Steve Tammel, High School Principal Dana Simmons, Buildings & Grounds Director Nate Carolan, Superintendent Scott Klavetter, two teachers, and two community members.
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The district has provided the MDE with all required documentation for the referendum with the submission of a formal “Review & Comment.” The MDE reviews all information submitted to ensure the proposed project is both educationally and financially appropriate for the district and community. Click here to view the Review & Comment on our Resources Page.
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Both a building bond referendum and an operating levy need to be approved by district voters and are funded with local property taxes. However, building bond referendum funds can only be used for construction including additions, renovations, or new construction. Operating levies are a legally separate funding source to support classrooms and educational programs, including curriculum, supplies, salaries, and other important operational expenses.
questions about our challenges
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Our school requires improved, dedicated spaces to meet today’s educational needs, including physical education during the day, Community Education, and more. Learn more about our facility challenges here.
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Educational delivery has greatly changed since our building was originally built in 1957. At the time, our facility provided general classrooms along with space for Early Childhood and Special Education. In 1962, space to support music and physical education was added; a Career and Technical Education (CTE) shop was added in 1976; and classrooms, office space, cafeteria, and kitchen space were added in 2008.
Although our district has operated well with a single facility for the past seven years, some of our existing spaces are not currently accommodating our evolving programming and curriculum. Programming and education will only continue to grow and evolve over time, and our goal is to provide right-sized educational spaces to ensure all students succeed. Results from our space utilization efficiency study showed that several classrooms are undersized. Support spaces and Special Education spaces are 32% below MDE’s guidelines, and educational day-use gymnasium space is 27% below MDE’s guidelines.
In addition, what our district provides to our community today has changed since our original facility was built. For example, since our building was originally built, breakfast is now provided and adult programming is included as part of Community Education. Currently, the district does not have dedicated Community Education space, which limits adult and community programs to outside school hours when classrooms can be shared.
We lack dedicated space to support our physical education curriculum during the school day. While the existing cafeteria has been repurposed as an auxiliary gym for after-school activities, it is currently used to provide three breakfast periods and four lunch periods for PK-12 students throughout the school day. This means all K-12 physical education classes must be held in the main gym during the school day. Class schedules for all elementary and high school classes, including math and reading, are developed around the availability of shared gym space for physical education classes, which limits flexibility and course offerings for all core content areas.
In addition, our original locker rooms, located in the lower level of our building, require significant mechanical, electrical, and plumbing upgrades, and are not ADA-compliant. Our existing weight room is also undersized and not ADA-compliant and is housed at the site of the former stage on the east side of our competition gym.
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Yes. Over the last several years, our district and facility staff have done a great job keeping our facility maintained, and have been able to make improvements as dollars allow. However, several facility and programmatic needs extend beyond our annual maintenance budgets allocated from the State of Minnesota.
Asking for voter-approved dollars is common across the state—more than 75% of Minnesota school districts have leveraged bond referendums to improve the conditions of their facilities. Our school’s physical facility and educational needs will continue to worsen the longer we wait to address them.
questions about the plan
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On Tuesday, May 13, residents of Kingsland Public School District will decide whether to invest $11.5 million for an addition to our existing building that will provide space for physical education during the day, a multi-purpose large group room to be used for Community Education and additional flexible programming, locker rooms, a weights and fitness space, family restrooms, and storage.
Residents will decide on a single $11.5 million ballot question on or before Tuesday, May 13. The school board feels confident that the proposed plan addresses educational programming needs to position Kingsland for the future while remaining fiscally-responsible to our taxpayers. Learn more about the proposed plan here. -
Providing adequate and right-sized spaces to serve our students, staff, and community is the best long-term solution for our district, such as physical education during the school day and Community Education and other uses during other hours.
Making these improvements allows the district to improve its overall operational efficiency and remain competitive with neighboring districts as educational opportunities to continue to evolve and change.
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We lack dedicated space to support our physical education programming during the school day. While the existing cafeteria has been repurposed as an auxiliary gym for after-school activities, it is currently used to provide three breakfast periods and four lunch periods for PK-12 students throughout the school day. This means all K-12 physical education classes must be held in the main gym during the school day. Class schedules for all elementary and high school classes, including math and reading, are developed around the availability of shared gym space for physical education classes, which limits flexibility and course offerings for all core content areas.
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If approved by voters, the addition to the building will provide space for a flexible classroom to support Community Education that can be used for either youth or adult programming or other multipurpose programming such as meeting or practice space for student clubs or curricular activities, classroom space for health classes, rental space for non-school groups, and additional functional uses and programming.
The design phase of the project will help further determine how the classroom would be used to positively support our students, staff, and communities.
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Yes. A conceptual drawing for the proposed plan is available on The Plan page. Please note that the drawing is conceptual and not finalized. If approved, the design process would involve stakeholder input to ensure the design best responds to those who would use the facility.
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Our district’s goal is to remain stable and provide appropriate educational spaces and educational programming to remain responsive and competitive as a district. The school board is committed to addressing the facility needs that were identified over a decade ago. If the proposed plan is not approved, our critical educational and programming needs will remain unaddressed and not go away, and the cost to address those needs will likely increase. If the referendum fails, we will need to re-evaluate how to best address our needs. In addition, the school board will need to carefully consider how programming is provided within our current space limitations, including Community Education programming.
Additionally, if the May referendum fails, we will lose the opportunity to take advantage of economies of scale by completing the work of both referendums at the same time.
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State law does not permit different facility options to be presented to voters at the same time. This plan was deemed to represent the greatest value for the lowest cost after more than a year of planning and feedback from our community and stakeholders. The proposed plan was selected from several recommendations presented to the school board and aligns with feedback we’ve received from our community over a decade ago.
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If approved by voters, parking would be minimally impacted as the vast majority of the addition is proposed to be located on the grass area to the east of our existing facility. In conjunction with the current projects, we anticipate a net loss of only six spaces. As we are making critical repairs to our existing parking lot and asphalt as part of the approved November building bond referendum, we will consider if additional parking is needed and evaluate extending the blacktop into the grass area.
questions about design and construction
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If approved on Tuesday, May 13, the design and pre-construction phase of the project would take place from June 2025 to September 2025. The project bid and award phase is currently planned to take place in August or September 2025, and construction would take place from September 2025 to August 2027. Please note that this schedule may change because of material delays or unforeseen lead times.
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If the referendum passes, the district will begin the design process, led by the project architect. Community input is important during this process, and we will involve staff, administrators, community members, and students who will work collaboratively with the selected architect throughout the design process. Input would be asked for and encouraged to ensure the design of the addition to our building best represents the students, staff, and community who will use it.
questions about the cost
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The single-question ballot requests $11.5 million for an addition to our existing building that will provide space for physical education during the day, a multi-purpose large group room to be used for Community Education and additional flexible programming, locker rooms, a weights and fitness space, family restrooms, and storage. Learn more about the cost here.
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The tax for the proposed plan would expire after 2050 or when the bonds for the project have been paid, whichever happens sooner.
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Created by the State of Minnesota in 2017, the Ag2School Tax Credit was implemented to reduce the property tax impact of school debt referendums for agricultural landowners. The 70% credit is applicable to all agricultural land with the exception of the home, garage, and one acre of land surrounding an agricultural homestead. This is not a tax deduction – it’s a dollar-for-dollar credit and is an automatic tax credit paid directly by the state with no application required. This credit would remain at 70% for the life of the bond.
If the proposed plan is approved, approximately 38.97% of the total bond referendum’s principal and interest will be covered by the State of Minnesota’s Ag2School Tax Credit. This state-funded credit reduces the contribution percentage for agricultural landowners to slightly less than residential landowners.
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The district is working closely with ICS, a K-12 planning and construction management firm, to ensure the project stays on budget. During the planning process, the district worked closely with Baird, the district’s financial consultant, to provide an external financial review and model several options to further understand what improvements our district could support.
If approved by voters, our district will work with ICS to ensure the project remains on track using various tools including monthly updates, budget tracking, comprehensive project documentation, and more.
In addition, once a referendum is approved by local voters, the budget is firmly set for construction and cannot be increased or overspent. If approved by voters, the district would invest a total of $11.5 million for key improvements to our school. Learn more about the plan here.
Our district will work with ICS to ensure the project remains on track using various tools including monthly updates, budget tracking, comprehensive project documentation, and more.
In addition, once a referendum is approved by local voters, the budget is firmly set for construction and cannot be increased or overspent. Learn more about the plan here.
questions about voting
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Public referendums, like ours, require voter approval to fund facility improvements, and we encourage all residents to be informed about the proposed plan and to cast their vote on or before Election Day.
There are three ways to vote on the upcoming bond referendum: 1) vote absentee in person, 2) vote absentee by mail, or 3) vote in person on Election Day. Election Day is Tuesday, May 13, and absentee voting is available starting Friday, March 28, through Monday, May 12. Learn more about voting here.
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Available starting Friday, March 28, through Monday, May 12, residents may vote absentee either in person or by mail:
Residents may vote absentee in person at the district office (705 North Section Avenue, Spring Valley, MN 55975) on weekdays from 7:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. NOTE: In-person absentee voting will not be available Thursday, April 17, Friday, April 18, and Monday, April 21, due to Kingsland Public School District’s spring break.
Residents may vote absentee by mail by either 1) contacting our Administrative Assistant to the Superintendent, Jill Ramaker, by email (ramaker.jill@kingsland2137.org) or phone (507.346.7276 Ext. 5100) to request an absentee ballot application, or 2) by completing and returning an absentee ballot application to the district office here.
Completed absentee ballots must be returned to the district office by 8:00 p.m. on Election Day — Tuesday, May 13.
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On Tuesday, May 13, all residents can cast their vote at the Spring Valley Community Center, located at 200 South Broadway Avenue, Spring Valley, MN 55975. Polls will be open from 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. for all residents.
To vote in person on Election Day, you must be registered to vote. You can register online here or in person on Election Day at your respective polling location.
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Yes. A sample ballot can be viewed here.
additional questions
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Yes. Our district is committed to ensuring our residents are provided accurate, transparent, and timely information about our upcoming building bond referendum. Additional resources are available on our Resources Page, including our Fast Facts Flier, our Review and Comment, our School Board Resolution, and more.
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We welcome and appreciate your feedback throughout this process. If you have any questions about the upcoming building bond referendum, we encourage you to complete a short form on our Connect Page, and we will do our best to respond within 48 hours.
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Board members will be available for questions and building tours before each board meeting, which are held on the first and third Mondays of each month at 6:00 p.m. Click here for more information.