Edina Schools approves $18.8M facilities plan, extends operating levy
The Edina Public Schools Board unanimously approved a 10-year facilities maintenance plan and voted 7-0 to extend the district's operating referendum through 2037, maintaining current tax levels while ensuring long-term financial stability.
At its July 14 meeting, the Edina school board took two major financial actions to secure the district's future. The board approved a $18.8 million facilities maintenance plan for fiscal year 2027, representing a $2 million decrease from the previous year's $21 million budget. Director of Finance and Operations Merritt Woodard explained that the district manages 1.85 million square feet of facilities and has carefully structured the plan to keep the tax rate flat at around 25%, down from 26% four years ago. The plan includes $3 million in bonds for parking lot improvements at Cornelia and Highlands schools.
The board also unanimously approved a resolution to renew the district's operating referendum, which will extend funding from taxes payable in 2028 through 2037. This extension maintains current tax levels without increasing them and does not require voter approval under Minnesota state law. The Finance and Facilities Committee had unanimously supported the recommendation, which was discussed at board retreats and a public hearing earlier in the meeting.
Interim Superintendent Dr. Dan Bitman highlighted the district's strong performance during his state of the district update. Edina students achieved a 92% pass rate on Advanced Placement exams—among the best nationally. The district's robotics team, the Green Machine, became the first Minnesota team to win a national championship. Additionally, the district raised $119,870 in unified sports fundraising, exceeding all Minnesota school districts, colleges, and universities except Delta Airlines. The district maintained its AAA credit rating and received a national award for financial transparency.
The board also approved the superintendent's goals for the coming year, with Board Chair Gabler emphasizing that hiring a new superintendent will be the district's most important decision. Dr. Bitman's goals include ensuring a seamless leadership transition, leveraging his prior experience recruiting superintendents for other districts. The board approved four goals for 2025-26, including hiring and onboarding a new superintendent and maintaining fiscal integrity while advancing strategic priorities.
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Votes (16)
Agenda Approval
Dissent: None
Moved by Unknown [Opening] · Seconded by Unknown [Opening]
Standard procedural approval of meeting agenda for July 14, 2025 school board meeting.
Public Hearing: Renewal of District Operating Levy
Dissent: None
Moved by Unknown [Procedural] · Seconded by Unknown [Procedural]
Public hearing held regarding renewal of operating levy originally approved by voters in November 2017. Director of Finance and Operations Merritt Woodard led the hearing. Board recessed regular school board meeting to conduct public hearing as required.
Consent Agenda Approval
Dissent: None
Moved by Unknown [Consent] · Seconded by Unknown [Consent]
Consent agenda approved including monthly gifts and donations. Board Chair Gabler highlighted that district received over $1.2 million in gifts during the fiscal year from parents, PTOs, community organizations, and businesses including Edina Give and Go, Ed Fund, and local businesses. Emphasized importance of community partnerships and generosity.
State of the District Update
Dissent: None
Moved by N/A [Informational] · Seconded by N/A [Informational]
Dr. Dan Bitman, Interim Superintendent, presented comprehensive district performance metrics. Key achievements: 92% of AP students scoring 3 or higher (among best nationally); 97 students earning bilingual certificates, 102 bilingual gold seals, 73 platinum seals; 100% of PreK-3 educators completed structured literacy training; all elementary schools became Unified Champion Schools; $119,870 raised in unified sports fundraising (exceeding all Minnesota school districts, colleges, universities except Delta Airlines); AAA credit rating sustained; National Association of School Business Officers award for financial transparency; 16 Edina High School juniors received college-sponsored book awards from institutions including Johns Hopkins, Columbia, Dartmouth; Edina High School robotics team (Green Machine) became first-ever Minnesota winners of national championship; one student selected for United States Senate Youth Program; 29 staff members recognized for 693 years of service; three AVID students received Wallen Scholarship with $16,000 total support.
Policy 113: Data Requests
Dissent: None
Moved by N/A [Policy Discussion] · Seconded by N/A [Policy Discussion]
Director of Marketing Communications Stephanie Edwards presented updated data requests policy. Key change: new Minnesota statute allows districts to suspend data requests if requesters do not inspect data or remain in contact within 5 days. Edwards reported district receives 15-20 data requests annually. Nature of requests has shifted from individual citizens seeking specific information to organizations requesting spending data for services over time periods. Some requests (e.g., email copies spanning years) can strain IT resources and incur legal review costs. Board member inquired about tracking request volume and time burden; Edwards indicated no formal threshold established for concern but acknowledged potential issues if requests increased significantly or consumed substantial staff time.
Policy 414 & 415: Mandated Reporting of Child Neglect and Vulnerable Adult Abuse
Dissent: None
Moved by N/A [Policy Discussion] · Seconded by N/A [Policy Discussion]
Executive Director of Human Resources Sonia Sailor presented two mandated reporting policies. No substantive changes; updates align with style guide. Recommendation to remove from annual review requirement because Minnesota statute does not mandate annual review. Citations retained in policy body (not moved to reference list) due to critical importance for mandated reporters. Specific reporting contact information included: Hennepin County Child Protection Services phone number and Minnesota Department of Education contact. Prior year added general language to ensure accessibility.
Policy 533: Student Wellness, Food, Nutrition, and Physical Activity
Dissent: None
Moved by N/A [Policy Discussion] · Seconded by N/A [Policy Discussion]
Director of Pupil Services and Operations presented significantly revised wellness policy. Main changes: (1) renamed from generic 'wellness' to clarify distinction from mental health/student wellness; (2) reorganized into four sections: nutrition promotion, food service, competitive foods, physical activity; (3) removed granular implementation details in favor of administrative guidance; (4) enhanced student participation in wellness committee (added Southview student representatives); (5) aligned with federal regulations requiring local education agencies to have student wellness policy. Board discussion focused on: (a) clarification that policy is 'local district wellness policy' referenced in federal code; (b) removal of triennial assessment language—board agreed simplifying language to state district will assess compliance triannually without prescribing specific assessment methods; (c) removal of appendices containing nutrition standards to allow administrative flexibility; (d) minor wording correction in Section 3A regarding 'should be avoided' language. Board member noted policy had not been reviewed since 2020 and appreciated alignment with assessment and reporting requirements.
Policy 806: Emergency Management
Dissent: None
Moved by N/A [Policy Discussion] · Seconded by N/A [Policy Discussion]
Assistant Superintendent Nate Spinson presented emergency management policy with one substantive change: striking Section 7 (Violence Prevention) because district does not conduct active shooter drills. District follows BYST standard response protocol (lockdown, lights out, shades drawn, silence) rather than simulations involving law enforcement. Board discussion raised concern that removed language regarding observable warning signs of individuals at risk of self-harm or violence should not be lost entirely. Spinson acknowledged that such training occurs through health classes and advisories but is not currently formalized in emergency management policy. Board suggested that observable warning signs training may be more appropriately addressed in student mental health/wellness policy framework rather than emergency management policy. Agreement that social-emotional learning and mental health policy warrant broader conversation to ensure comprehensive coverage of warning sign recognition and student empowerment to report concerns.
Resolution: Renewal of Expiring Referendum Revenue
Dissent: None
Moved by Unknown [Referendum Action] · Seconded by Unknown [Referendum Action]
Board voted to approve resolution authorizing renewal of operating referendum from taxes payable in 2028 to 2037. Director of Finance and Operations Merritt Woodard presented recommendation for extension providing long-term financial stability. Resolution had been reviewed by Finance and Facilities Committee (all four members unanimously supported), discussed at June 1-2 board retreat and June 9 work session, and subject of public hearing earlier in meeting. Board discussion emphasized: (1) this maintains current tax levels without increase; (2) aligns with standard practice across Minnesota school districts; (3) legislature authorized extension without requiring additional election to reduce costs; (4) similar to practices of cities and counties; (5) districts cannot add to existing levy amounts. Board acknowledged community input and emphasized fiscal responsibility while noting that extension does not require voter approval per state statute.
Long-Term Facilities Maintenance Plan (Fiscal Years 2027-2036)
Dissent: None
Moved by Unknown [Facilities Plan Action] · Seconded by Unknown [Facilities Plan Action]
Board approved 10-year facilities maintenance plan required to access long-term facilities maintenance revenue. Director Woodard presented plan showing FY2027 proposed spending of $18,842,949 (approximately $2 million decrease from FY2026 ~$21 million). District maintains 1.85 million square feet of facilities. Plan structured to keep tax rate flat around 25% (down from 26% four years ago) through careful management of principal and interest payments on voter-approved and non-voter-approved debt. FY2027 includes approximately $5 million increase in approved bond payments offset by reduction in pay-as-you-go and long-term facilities maintenance bonded debt. Plan includes $3 million in abatement bonds for Cornelia and Highlands parking lot improvements, which does not significantly impact overall tax rate. Future years (4-5 years forward) show significant step-downs in debt service, providing flexibility for future boards to add facilities or improve existing ones. Woodard emphasized summer is busy period for district planning and budget development.
2025-2026 School Board Goals
Dissent: None
Moved by Unknown [Board Goals Action] · Seconded by Unknown [Board Goals Action]
Board approved four annual goals for 2025-26 school year: (1) Hiring and onboarding new superintendent in 2025-26 school year; (2) Strengthening district stability and sustainability while making measurable progress towards strategic plan goals and student success indicators; (3) Maintaining balanced budget and fiscal integrity while upholding district quality and strategic priorities; (4) Enhancing school board governance effectiveness through continuous development and evaluation. Goals had been discussed at June 1-2 board retreat and June 9 meeting with opportunity for changes; no further modifications made before action vote.
2025-2026 Superintendent Goals
Dissent: None
Moved by Unknown [Superintendent Goals Action] · Seconded by Unknown [Superintendent Goals Action]
Board approved Dr. Bitman's superintendent goals aligned with strategic plan, board priorities, and Minnesota School Board Association/Minnesota Association of School Administrator Standards. Goals had been reviewed at June 1-2 retreat and June 9 meeting. Board Chair Gabler emphasized that superintendent's Goal #4 (Ensuring Seamless Leadership Transition) directly supports board's #1 priority, leveraging Dr. Bitman's prior experience recruiting and hiring superintendents for other districts. Board noted this is most important decision district will make in coming years and emphasized collaboration between board and superintendent on transition planning.
Policy 208: Policy Review Schedule (Rapid Review)
Dissent: None
Moved by Unknown [Policy 208 Action] · Seconded by Unknown [Policy 208 Action]
Board approved Policy 208 via rapid review process. Only changes: (1) updated future policy review dates; (2) removed Policies 414/415 from annual review requirement per Minnesota statute (mandated reporting policies not required to be reviewed annually). No substantive policy changes.
Policies 522, 530, and 532: Title IX and Student Conduct (Rapid Review)
Dissent: None
Moved by Unknown [Policies 522/530/532 Action] · Seconded by Unknown [Policies 522/530/532 Action]
Board approved three policies via rapid review: Policy 522 (Title IX Sex Discrimination Grievance Procedure and Process), Policy 530, and Policy 532. No changes from prior month; approved without substantive discussion.
Superintendent Update
Dissent: None
Moved by N/A [Informational] · Seconded by N/A [Informational]
Dr. Bitman provided updates on summer activities and district initiatives: (1) ESY (Extended School Year) and summer community education programs running successfully with significant staff effort; (2) Attended annual metro superintendent gathering with mayors; Nate Swenson and Paul Pzel participated in presentations showcasing Edina's work; Patrick (superintendent-in-training) participated to support superintendent licensing completion; (3) Met with parent leadership groups to plan for upcoming year; (4) Worked with Board Chair Gabler and Vice Chair Alenberg on draft board schedule and meeting plan for 2025-26 (multiple meetings, several hours of work); (5) Represented school board in Edina parade with Director Birdman; parade attendance triple previous years with thousands of children; high school student grabbed candy and threw remainder back to board members; described as hot day with great community engagement and laughter.
Meeting Adjournment
Dissent: None
Moved by Unknown [Adjournment] · Seconded by Unknown [Adjournment]
Standard procedural adjournment of July 14, 2025 school board meeting.
Notable Quotes (24)
I think it really speaks to the partnerships that are alive and well in Edina and how fortunate we are to have such to be a part of such a generous community... we are truly a better system and a better district because of your donor.
While this update begins to capture many accomplishments across our district, it clearly reflects the depth and breadth of our success, our collective success and our commitments. We are well positioned to build on these strengths and chart a bold path forward grounded in our community shared values and guided by the ambition vision of those making sure our strategic plan happens well and right.
I would just like to extend a thank you to everybody that works here, volunteers here, all of your kiddos here um for the excellence... it takes a village to make that excellence happen.
I have anecdotal observations that the number of the nature of the requests has changed. So I'd hear about some requests like right before I joined individual citizens of Adina seeking specific information. What I see more now are requests from organizations who probably only respond to a bid. So they want to know how much we've spent for XYZ services um for some period of time.
If you want to know how much we've spent on busing services over a period of time, that may or may not be easy. um someone might request, you know, copies of all of your invoices and check registries. And what I do in those instances, especially when you kind of get a sense for when you're one of potentially dozens of people who are being asked the same information in some of those requests, I go back to them with an estimate of how much it would take for MERT to access all that information and they're oftentimes not quite as interested.
when it comes to mandated reporting of child neglect, um that is something that is is incredibly important in our in our system and it's really important that so having those citations embedded in the policy in this case is is just very helpful for the worker.
the existence of this policy is um to bring the district into compliance with code of federal regulations that require all local education agencies student learners policy... the district is meeting its obligation to the federal requirements of promoting either the reduction or the prevention of childhood obesity as well as promoting physical activity for all our students.
we really tried to parse out um what should be in policy versus what are administrative tasks and that's why you'll see less as far as the policy implementation piece and monitoring piece.
I think that that is um a good point. Um, and I guess the reason why we're recommending that it be struck is while I can't identify something specific that we do to identifying those signs um, at this particular moment, this is actually not it's a requirement that we don't need to do as a result of an active shooter drill.
an active uh shooter driller simulation um includes law enforcement being involved um some some type of stimulation. Um and we just don't do that. Uh we follow the byst standard response pro protocol which really focuses on getting students and staff into rooms that are locked, lights are out and shades are drawn and everyone is is quiet.
I know we talked about that on policy committee last year that we're a district that doesn't do active shooter drills but the verbiage of what is in here now are things I would think we would want whether it's health teachers whether it's um advisories talking about how do you be a good how do you look out for somebody that and it doesn't even have to be a school shooter. It could be deforming themselves or risk a suicide.
To me it seems like it's not appropriate for the emergency management policy. But when we talk about our student wellness, not of course what we just renamed, which was the food part, but the actual mental health and well-being from that standpoint, there's some components of this that I think are probably more more appropriate in that area on top of just from a policy standpoint.
this resolution has been reviewed, vetted, and recommended by administration as well as the finance and facilities committee. It has been discussed by the board at the June 1st and 2nd board retreat, the June 9th work session. We had a public hearing earlier this evening, and now it is up for action.
thank you for considering the administration's recommendation to extend our operating referendum um from taxes payable in 2028 to 2037 which is going to provide the district some long-term financial stability.
anytime you're um seeking authorization for levies and things like that that it's always the intention to want to come to the community and ask for that reup and so on so forth. this particular situation given the nature of this levy what it's been for many years as as director talked about in his previous presentation this has become sort of a standard across public education throughout the state of Minnesota so this is in line with pretty much every other district throughout the state is not an outlier and the legislature in its wisdom decided to say hey let's not add on the cost of another election that we need to run in order to at a high probability that the that the community would support this.
school districts are not allowed add anything on to what they're already paying. And so again, that's really want to be clear with the community to say this is not increasing in terms of adding additional, it's keeping the same thing for an additional amount of time.
in order to access long-term facilities maintenance revenue, the school board must approve both a 10-year revenue and 10-year expenditure plan, which will allow the school district to maintain um the very important investment that community members have made in the district over the last 100 or so years and to continue to maintain the buildings in the state of good repair for the next 100 years.
so our our overall debt and capital plan can be as neutral from our taxpayers as possible. only do that um through the way we structure our principal interest payments and both non voter approved and voter approved debt.
Future years, we'll be in that 25 to 24 range. And in fact, um, four to five years from now and even beyond that, you'll see some significant step downs, which will give future boards the flexibility to either add facilities or to better um, and improve current facilities, which are purposes that are not allowable to use maintenance.
I've just appreciated the collaboration um and the continued focus on the good capital here in uh AD public schools and I'm just grateful for the continued discussions around how I can add to the already well done work. Looking forward to it.
when you look at goal number four, ensuring a seamless leadership transition. And this was really important when we had our our um retreat um and as we were defining not only our goals which is this is our number one goal for the school board but um also having Dr. Whitman's expertise not only as a superintendent but also in his um other capacities that he's had in his career of recruiting and hiring um for other districts uh superintendents. I just want to just talk about the the collaboration between those two.
I'm appreciating cabinet and I'm resonating with Director Woodard's remark. We are as busy if not busier in the summer than we are any time of the year.
It's especially nice today because we also had Nate Swenson and Paul Pzel uh weigh in and and were invited and part of some presentations because of the good work and the focus areas uh here in Edina public schools.
I don't know that I was ready for being in the parade anytime, but there were hundreds and hundreds of children uh and grateful. I was particularly uh entertained when a high school student grabbed a bunch of candy, took what he wanted, and threw the rest back to us.
Ordinances & Resolutions (11)
Data Requests policy updated to align with Minnesota statute allowing suspension of requests if requesters do not inspect data within 5 days
Mandated Reporting of Child Neglect, Physical or Sexual Abuse; includes embedded citations and Hennepin County Child Protection Services contact information
Mandated Reporting of Vulnerable Adult Abuse; includes embedded citations and Minnesota Department of Education reporting information
Student Wellness, Food, Nutrition, and Physical Activity; reorganized to clarify distinction from mental wellness and ensure federal compliance with nutrition and activity standards
Emergency Management policy; Section 7 (Violence Prevention) struck because district does not conduct active shooter drills
Policy Review Schedule; updated with future review dates and removal of Policies 414/415 from annual review requirement
Title IX Sex Discrimination Grievance Procedure and Process
Student conduct policy (specific content not detailed in transcript)
Student conduct policy (specific content not detailed in transcript)
Authorizes extension of operating referendum from taxes payable in 2028 to 2037 for long-term financial stability
10-year revenue and expenditure plan (FY2027-FY2036) for maintaining 1.85 million square feet of district facilities; FY2027 proposed spending $18,842,949
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Other Topics from This Document
Policy 113: Data Requests
Policy 414 & 415: Mandated Reporting of Child Neglect and Vulnerable Adult Abuse
Policy 533: Student Wellness, Food, Nutrition, and Physical Activity
Policy 806: Emergency Management
Resolution: Renewal of Expiring Referendum Revenue
Long-Term Facilities Maintenance Plan (Fiscal Years 2027-2036)
2025-2026 School Board Goals
2025-2026 Superintendent Goals
Policy 208: Policy Review Schedule
Policies 522, 530, and 532: Title IX and Student Conduct
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