bonds are for building and levies are for learning. So, this cycle, it's all about infrastructure and the the buildings that we need in order for the great learning to happen here in our district.

We're not building palaces here, you know, and I think if you're not paying attention, I mean, our board meetings, we talk about finances all of the time, you know, trying to be fiscally responsible with the budget and the taxpayers funds. I mean, another option was building another middle school. Um, just from a cost perspective though was very cost prohibitive. I mean, $100 million more roughly. So, people see $139 million price tag and think, "Wow, that's a lot of money." But really, it's the most cost effective way to expand our middle schools, provide more space for our students um while preserving that tax base and and being respectful of the funds that we're getting from our taxpayers.

We have quite a few students at Century Middle School uh currently. Number one is in the classroom. We've seen higher class sizes um which presents challenges for our teachers to meet the needs. Uh challenges to give timely feedback. Uh the classrooms really feel cramped. They they feel small. Students are on top of each other. And once you step outside of the classrooms and you get into the hallways, uh there's capacity issues. uh it's difficult to navigate through the hallways at times. It can even feel unsafe for our students. Um, and then we mentioned other spaces like when you get to the cafeteria, students are waiting in line for a very long time and sometimes uh they might only have seven or eight minutes uh to to eat their lunch. So everything really feels rushed and feels overcrowded.

We only have one gym at Kenwood and you put the divider down and what people don't understand is the way our middle school schedule goes at sometimes there's five FIAD classes operating at one time in that one gym with the divider down. And so, it's very hard to get through the same curriculum that is offered at Maguire and Sentry. We're very creative. Um, but in the winter months it's really hard because we only have limited space. So, we get in the pool as much as we can, we do utilize our rock climbing wall. Um, in the the months when it's warmer outside, we get the kids outside, but we are very limited. Um, and we can't just use the gym when it's open because at the secondary level, we have to run a schedule. And so, there's five five classes at one time with one space. So, we really feel it. Um, and it's really hard to be able to run those those classes during that time with one space.

Yeah, we would be able to build these classroom additions that, you know, Dr. A was talking about. We would be able to um make all three buildings equitable in how how we operate, right? Being able to have equitable classrooms um across the three. So, you know, at Magguire, we'd be able to have classrooms that are larger than the one we're sitting in right now. Um, being able to um increase our sizes for our special education classrooms. Um, at Kenwood, we'd be able to add a gym um and be able to have, you know, spaces that are comparable to the spaces at Meguire and Century for our our physical education classes. You know, many of our classrooms are smaller than the Minnesota Department of Education's recommended sizes. So, with the passing of the bond, we would be able to get our classrooms up to the size that would be recommended by uh the Department of Ed. our specialist area, we would be able to have them equitable across the three sites. Our STEM classes, our visual arts, uh media arts, band, choir, uh family and consumer sciences, parking is an issue that we would be able to address. Updating our furniture are in our flex spaces. Um, we'd be able to get a lot done uh with the bond passing at all three buildings, which would be really exciting. Um, and it would be equitable across all three sites.

Well, again, original um 712 building and we've been added on to I think six or seven different times. Our last major renovation was in 1993. Um, and that's kind of the space that we're in today is a classroom that was designed in '93. It's a special ed classroom, but with that it's uh it's small and we are designed on a traditional junior high school. So, if you ever come in, you kind of see us as hallways and classrooms, but there's no breakout space. uh because of when we were built, when we were designed, we were really designed on a junior high model, which is a smaller high school. Well, schools changed and with that, you're looking at breakout spaces, you're looking at flex places where kids can kind of congregate in small groups. Uh they can do things whether it's project base or working together in small group. Uh we don't have those.

Well, we're looking at $139.6 6 million uh going out to our voters. Uh and that would be looking for additions to all three middle schools. So, cafeteria space and furniture and really kind of expanding so we can hit that larger amount of kids who are coming through. So, that's really that push is for all three middle schools.

Uh, Dr. A, could you share a little bit? I mean, we're we're in Meguire right now and, you know, smaller classroom setting here, older building, but also as capacity increases, more students in the spaces, we're running out of like flexible learning spaces and how that's a reality for you here at Meguire and how you guys are dealing with that.

Yeah, I would echo that and I often times hear like, well, you're making it work. Like you're you're making it work at Kenwood and we are. Um, and we make it work because of the teachers. We have amazing teachers here in Lakeville, like Mr. Baky said. Um, but our students deserve to have uh really good facilities to enhance their learning and they deserve better. They deserve to not have crowded spaces. They deserve to have um equitable spaces, right? Like it's hard when again I'll go back to the gym reference at Kenwood when we have one gym and the other buildings have two gyms and we can't do the same things as the other buildings. Oh, you're making it work. Yep, we do. We make it work cuz we love on our students and we do the best we can for them. But they deserve to have the same learning experiences from building to building and they deserve to have the best buildings um for their educational experiences.

I just add from a I mean, it's it's great hearing the perspective from the principles and what you're seeing like every day already. Um, because I think this is an issue. It's already an issue. It's not hey we're going to have this massive flow of students and the schools are going to be packed. I mean, you're already full. I mean, even with some leveling out of the middle schools you're all looking at 90% capacity which is over the 85% threshold that we'd ideally like to see.

Yeah. I mean, I can speak specifically to Century with the the recent boundary adjustments. Uh that has been very helpful to alleviate some of the the pressure uh at Century. Uh so we we currently have over a thousand students uh in the building this year. Next year it's expected to drop to to 900. So when those fourth graders do come to Century, we will have room for them. We will be able to offer the same programming for them. Uh but the problem is really down the road as those elementary class sizes continue to grow as more and more people uh move into Lakeville. That's where the challenges uh will arise. And I think for all of us, we can kind of do it with one grade. You can kind of start pushing kids into spaces and doing some things differently with one grade. You're not going to be able to do it with three grades. So when those fourth graders are now sixth, seventh, and their eighth graders, and you have larger class, you're, you know, 350 to almost, you know, maybe 400 kids projected into each class size, um, you're, you'll never fit all those groups in. So you can do it with one, you're not going to be able to do it across three grades. So we'll be creative for that first year, making sure that their experiences are good and that their teachers again, make sure that they they see them and that good relationships being built. But, uh, it'll be a tight first year for them.

The district has calculated uh that the estimated tax impact based on a $500,000 average home value in Lakeville would be about $14 per month per household uh over the course of 20 years, which is what we're looking at for a bonding term. Uh, fortunately, as the community continues to grow, that number will decrease that amount as there more houses come onto the market or into the community. That $14 a month will be diluted and so it won't be $14 a month necessarily for 20 years. But that that's what our estimate is based on the current tax base, current number of households in the district right now.

I think something that our board seriously thought about and Matt, I don't know if you'd agree with me here, but is obviously listening to the needs from the building administrators, from the superintendent about the challenges that our buildings have um especially in the middle school right now with space and wanting to address those, but not to be extravagant that we are really asking for what we need. We're not asking for um big shiny uh new objects that are that are wants um because we know that, you know, uh the economy and we know families um are are stretched. And so we we would not make this ask lightly um unless it was a um critical need and we believe as a board that it is. Um and so that's why we're coming to the voters with with this ask.

Maybe there's this perception that schools are always asking for money from the public, you know, whether it's a levy or a bond. But what most people don't realize, and I know we've mentioned this before, is we're the only government entity that has to ask for money. You know, the city and the county, they'll just increase the taxes where the schools can't do that. So, we're limited as far as what funds we get. Uh we get a an annual increase from the state, which barely, if at all, keeps up with inflation. And so, we're always in this financial crunch. Uh and so, really, in order to meet that gap that's left, we have to go to the taxpayers. And it can seem like a lot sometimes, uh but the reality in a a district that's growing, we have additional needs to serve our families and those kids. Um and really so that's why you have to go back cuz that's the only source that we can get the funds otherwise you have a ton of kids in small classrooms and it's just pressing the system and it's not ideal for education.

Uh, well, and to that end, a question that we've gotten, I'm sure others have received, is didn't we just go after a different levy this is the same school year? And the answer is yes. Um, we did. So this fall, our community and thanks to our community passed a renewal of a capital projects levy. So um as a reminder, levies are for learning, bonds are for building. And so the levy that we passed um was to continue um maintaining educational and security technology and also to support career pathways for our students here in the district. And because it was a renewal, there was no new taxes um that that families felt here in Lakeville. So um that's just continuing on what's been supported for a long time here in our district.

The vote on this bond referendum. Yes. Coming up in May. So May 12th is the actual voting date. However, you can there is early voting available uh starting in March 27th through May 11th. Uh voters or residents can vote at the district office Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 4 p.m. Residents can also vote early if they want uh requesting a absentee ballot from mnvotes.org. If you are mailing in the ballot, they will have to mail it in. So it is received on or before May 12th. And then also again, election date is May 12th. Um, residents can go to their voting place from 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 pm. Uh, there is a change for voting locations for polling locations. You can find that on isd194.org/vote.