Minnetonka Public Schools — Transcript
Monday, June 1, 2026
School Board Goals and Continuous Improvement
Technology Use Policy in Schools
District Finances and Legislative Advocacy
Minnetonka Schools Perpetual Endowment Trust Fund
Community Engagement and Citizens Academy
Votes (2)
Approval and Continuous Refinement of Board Goals
The school board annually sets and continuously refines its strategic goals for the district, encompassing excellence in well-being, student learning, innovation, and leadership. These goals are dynamic, adapting to community needs and educational advancements. Recent successes, such as over 75% of immersion students in the 2026 class projected to earn a bilingual seal, demonstrate progress toward the student learning goal. Furthermore, in response to community feedback, the board recently approved a 'reset' on technology use policies, aiming to scale back screen time across all grade levels.
Initiation of Minnetonka School's Perpetual Endowment Trust Fund
The district has launched a unique perpetual endowment trust fund aimed at securing long-term financial stability and ensuring the sustained quality of exceptional educational programs. This fund operates by accepting donations, with the principal remaining untouched. Only the interest earned from this principal will be used to support future operational budgets or specific programs, serving as a legacy investment to preserve programs like elementary navigators, immersion, or Tonka research amidst future budgetary constraints.
Notable Quotes (4)
Well, these goals are always under continuous improvement, and we they evolve year-over-year. Uh I will give you a really good example from our last study session. Uh Dr. Amy Leoo gave us some really good data on our immersion program and over more than I think it was more than 75% of our immersion students when they graduate from the year 2026 will have earned the bilingual seal either the gold or the platinum bilingual seal when they graduate.
Uh well the board recently approved board goals. You know one of the things we heard a year ago was about cell phones and uh a lot of concerns about cell phones and access to cell phones. And we had been a no cell phones elementary school, minimal cell phone use and middle schools and in high school they shouldn't be in classes. We really doubled down on that this year and we heard great feedback from kids across the system. ...a huge shift over probably the last nine months. our our community last summer said we're really wanting to make sure you're monitoring technology use during the day over the last you know probably two months that has really come up is uh community members have said please don't continue to expand this use unbridled. So, we're doing a reset.
It is unique. Uh, and it's an opportunity to do what we can as a district to look out for the long-term finances of our district and to try to help the general fund as much as possible given what Superintendent Law just spoke to about the the budgetary challenges facing public education. ...This would be more like a traditional trust fund where folks could dedicate a sum of money to the district and we would never touch that. But eventually the amount of money in the fund would grow so big that we could start to use some of the interest that that fund earns to help our budget and help our programming and pay for things that we're having trouble paying for elsewhere.
This isn't an investment today for next year. This is an investment today for five or 10 years from now or 15 years from now for the board to say, you know, our um elementary navigators program is premier and we don't want to lose it. this is going to be an investment to make sure that that stays or our immersion programming or our Tonka research. The board can choose at that time which program they want to make sure lasts. This is just an investment in the legacy of exceptional programs in Minnotonka so that in tighter budget times down the road there's an opportunity.
Ordinances & Resolutions (7)
Strategic objectives for the school district, including excellence in well-being, innovation, and leadership, which are continuously reviewed and updated.
An ongoing data collection tool to gauge parent expectations and feedback regarding school operations and policies, including technology use.
A ballot initiative in November aimed at investing land trust funds differently to benefit education, potentially generating hundreds of thousands of dollars for the district.
A local funding stream for schools that has not been updated by the state legislature for over a decade, impacting district finances.
A local funding stream for schools that has not been updated by the state legislature for over a decade, impacting district finances.
A new, unique investment fund designed for long-term financial stability and to support future exceptional programs in perpetuity.
An existing investment fund managed similarly to the proposed Endowment Trust Fund, used for retirement benefits and other projects like the Vantage Momentum building.