Saint Paul Public Schools — Transcript
Monday, July 13, 2026
Public Comment
Policy Updates and Revisions (Curriculum, Inclusion, Instructional Materials)
Facilities 5-Year Plan and Maintenance Funding
Long-Term Facilities Maintenance (LTFM) Revenue Program and Bond Issuance
Board Initiated Goals Governance (BIGG) Report on Student Outcomes
Votes (13)
Public Comment
Several community members spoke during the public comment session. Terry Ross mentioned transportation concerns. Lanea Soby expressed deep concern and disappointment regarding the situation of EL (English Language) students at a high school program, specifically the loss of summer school jobs for 3 EL teachers on June 26th. She questioned the district's actions in light of stated goals to inspire students and support vulnerable populations.
Approval of Consent Agenda Items (2C and 5G Pulled)
Moved by Chair Ward [00:19:07] · Seconded by Director Franco [00:19:35]
The Consent Agenda was approved with two items, 2C and 5G, pulled for separate consideration. Director Franco noted her abstention on Item 2C due to a conflict of interest related to her employer.
Separate Discussion for Item 2C: 3M Foundation STEM Programming and Literacy Grant Program
Dissent: Director Franco abstained.
Moved by Chair Ward [00:21:40] · Seconded by Vice Chair Valiant [00:22:15]
This item concerned authorizing the Superintendent to submit a grant application to the 3M Foundation. Director Franco abstained from the vote due to a conflict of interest, as her employer (City of Saint Paul Right Track) was referenced in one of the grant applications.
Separate Discussion for Item 5G: Middle School Athletic Registration Fees
Moved by Chair Ward [00:23:55] (to table until expert arrives) · Seconded by Director Henderson [00:24:25]
Item 5G was pulled from the consent agenda as it was a late addition. The Superintendent indicated that the Director of Athletics, Andrew Schmidt, was not present to discuss it. The board initially voted to table the item until the expert arrived, and later, it was decided to table it until the August Board of Education meeting. Superintendent Stanley confirmed that this delay would not impact operations for fall sports due to an existing emergency provision.
Motion to Table Item 5G until the August Board of Education Meeting
Moved by Chair Ward [00:41:27] · Seconded by Director Carrillo [00:41:59]
Following the initial tabling of Item 5G, Superintendent Stanley informed the board that the item would need to be moved to a subsequent meeting. Director Carrillo inquired if this would impact fall sports, but the Superintendent confirmed it would not.
Policy 602.00: Curriculum Instruction and Accountability Revisions
Moved by Chair Ward [00:31:21] · Seconded by Director Lowe [00:31:54]
This was the third and final reading of Policy 602.00. Revisions included adding a policy purpose and statement for consistency, updating definitions for curriculum, instruction, and assessment, and revising accountability standards with specific attention to stakeholder engagement and continuous improvement evaluation.
Policy 602.01: Inclusive and Equitable Education Revisions
Moved by Chair Ward [00:39:35] · Seconded by Vice Chair Valiant [00:40:24]
During the third reading of this policy, Vice Chair Valiant questioned the specified scope of 'pre-kindergarten through grade 12' and advocated for broader language to include all students, such as those in ECFE, 18-22 programming, and adult learners. An amendment was proposed and approved to change the language to 'for all students' to ensure inclusivity.
Policy 607.00: Selection and Adoption of Instructional Materials Revisions
Moved by Chair Ward [00:46:17] · Seconded by Director Carrillo [00:46:58]
This policy, undergoing its third reading, was revised to provide a general statement and purpose, clearly outlining that the school board retains the final authority to approve all curricular materials. It also details the process involving the superintendent's designee leading review with community, staff, parent, and student input.
Policy 607.01: Textbook Selection and Adoption Rescission
Moved by Chair Ward [00:48:42] · Seconded by Director Henderson [00:49:15]
The board considered the third reading of the rescission of Policy 607.01. This policy was being rescinded because its content had been incorporated and merged into Policy 607.00 and relevant parts of Policy 602.00, streamlining district policies.
Motion to Table Facilities 5-Year Plan
Dissent: Director Carrillo abstained.
Moved by Director Franco [01:39:46] · Seconded by Director Henderson [01:39:53]
Director Franco moved to table the Facilities 5-Year Plan presentation until after the discussion and approval of the Long-Term Facilities Maintenance (LTFM) Revenue Program. She argued that understanding the full financial implications of the LTFM plan was essential for fiduciary responsibility before approving the related 5-year facilities plan.
Fiscal Year 28 Long-Term Facilities Maintenance Revenue Program and Bond Issuance
Moved by Chair Ward [01:53:30] · Seconded by Director Alan [01:55:00]
The board considered a resolution for the annual review of the LTFM plan and the authorization to issue up to $48.4 million in general obligation facilities maintenance bonds and $15 million in general obligation school building bonds for FY28. Michael Hart from PTMA explained that this funding supports the SPPS Build program, with an anticipated $76 increase for the median single-family home in Saint Paul for 2027 taxes. Director Franco inquired about the long-term debt trajectory, acknowledging the necessity of facility investment.
Facilities 5-Year Plan (2027-2031) Adoption
Moved by Chair Ward [01:59:36] · Seconded by Director Henderson [02:00:23]
After the LTFM discussion, the Facilities 5-Year Plan was brought back for approval. Senior Executive Officer Jackie Turner clarified that adopting the plan confirms prioritization but does not financially commit the board, as specific projects require further gate checks and votes. Director Carrillo requested that future presentations include a risk assessment related to climate change resilience for facilities. The plan outlined major projects, green energy initiatives, and athletic improvements.
Board Initiated Goals Governance (BIGG) Report (Fastbridge Data)
Senior Executive Officer Yowski presented an interim report on student achievement, using Fastbridge data in lieu of the forthcoming MCA results. The report highlighted positive trends in reading proficiency for K-1 students (up 9 percentage points) and overall for K-10 students (up 4 percentage points), despite challenges from the previous year. Multilingual students showed strong growth but continued to lag in overall proficiency. Math data for K-5 and 6-8 also showed modest increases in students on track.
Notable Quotes (13)
Friday June 26th, 3 EL teachers lost their summer school jobs. As we already know this year has brought immeasurable trauma and pain to our entire community. ELL students who are losing friends. students E consequences. Despite this turn students are doing their part to make up for lost time in one small way through summer school. Teachers have been cut. Are we willing to sacrifice to trust our community's happiness, especially given our shared concerns?
Yes, as in last month uh, similar this month, I have pulled this item because there's a reference to, uh, my employer, the city of Saint Paul, right track, in one of the grant applications and so I am gonna be abstaining from that discussion and vote.
Thank you. I'm looking to see if Director of athletics Andrew Schmidt is downstairs yet.
I did check in on that, and it won't it. There's an emergency.
My question is. My question is. Which one is that like? Um, I guess my first question, It's reference to like our Students who past or in between. Um, 12 and some of our our alternative sites. Um, so I'm wondering if. If that's in the, I don't know, maybe it's in a different policy, but I'm missing one because we talked about all students. But then on the next page, we kind of only talk about reference pre-K through 12. So I guess my question is, um, where do, where are we? You know, as far as policy is concerned, are we capturing our accountability to our other students Maybe not. I mean, we also do have adult students maybe that's a a different policy, but that's my question in general. Thank you for that question.
Would it, would it be easier just to say for all students?
I guess I don't, I, my preference would be that we maybe just wait. I think it's important for us to have the full assessment on what that cost of this is. I mean, some of these projects I know we aren't full go on, right?
most of these bonds, nearly all of them have been set out on a 20-year repayment schedule. And that's very standard. It's typical. The assets that we're talking about funding typically have a life well in excess of 20 years. And so we're comfortable with that in terms of overall view. But if you, if you zoom out and say, OK, we started this 10 years ago, we're 10 years into it, we've had a 20-year schedule, we're about 10 years away from any of that initial borrowing. To start to fall off, which will help reduce the tax burden. From the addition of new.
Thank you for that and I just think it's important I know that our district has been in partnership with the city and the county and really looking at assessing and how we can mitigate, uh, tax burden on residential homeowners knowing that there's many other economic factors at play that may, you know, ebb and flow like development in downtown that could possibly increase um, revenue in other ways and so thinking of like while the city and the county are running that strategy Knowing that like we are already projecting out, you know, uh, 3 years down the road of continued increases and that knowing that we're also running our facilities analysis, um, currently to say how can we, um, look at and assess our overall infrastructure and so anyway I just thought it was important for us to have that additional context. That, um, the decisions we're making here will, um, be a long term 20 year, right um, repayment process, um, which, again, investing in our facilities is a core priority of our district and necessary, um, even at this level of Expense. So thank you.
clarify, which might help with Director Franco's, um, questions and concerns earlier, that adopting, um, the five-year plan. Um, simply means that we're confirming the prioritization aligned with our current prioritization schedule. It does not commit the board to anything financial, because keep in mind that um the gate point checks are there in place, so that at each point of these gate point checks, um it comes back to the board in the form of a vote.
I'm not asking for an amendment to this plan that we're going to vote on, but I would like to see some type of presentation on our risk assessment around uh climate change resilience in our, in our facilities. And I would believe that you know, those risks increase, bigger storms, bigger heat waves, potentially bigger, um, cold spells or snowstorms, and what, what are the risks to our facilities and what would happen if we had some kind of catastrophic event that would require us to divert large amounts of funds to, for example, repair roofs or to make schools, um. Um, usable again to, uh, educate our students.
in early reading which is our universal screener for K and 1, we have moved students from, um, in the spring of 2023, 33.4% of our students in K1 were reading on track. Spring this spring, 2 months ago, and six weeks ago, 3 weeks ago, um, it's a blur, 42.4% of our students are reading on track. So that is an increase of 9% points using that early reading screener for all K1. In Saint Paul So, we are excited about our 9 points. It's still far below where we want to be, but a 9 point increase spring over spring shows really good trend data. That is something that we're very pleased about.
So, this is definitely still a challenge for us. Um, we've remained pretty flat when you look back and on the right-hand side, that top, um, that top light purple is, um, that's the percentage of students who are exceeding, it's, um, a pretty small amount, so the number is having to be written above that light purple So we'd like to see a lot more purple on the right-hand side.
Ordinances & Resolutions (24)
Resource for public comment information, contact information for board members, and future meeting schedules.
Grant program that the district is seeking funds from for STEM and literacy programming.
Revised to include policy purpose, updated definitions, revised accountability standards, and continuous improvement evaluation.
Revised to outline standards for multicultural, culturally responsive, gender-inclusive, and linguistically affirming curriculum; amended to specify 'all students'.
Revised to clarify the school board's final authority and the process for reviewing and approving curricular materials with community input.
Rescinded as its content was incorporated into Policy 607.00 and parts of Policy 602.00.
Resolution from the previous year regarding specific facility and programming changes, which has now been closed out.
The new strategic plan for the district, which the Facilities Master Plan 2.0 and Facilities Portfolio Analysis will align with.
Previous district-wide plan for facilities, aligned with the 'SPBS Chiefs' strategic plan.
Updated district-wide plan for facilities, being intentionally modified to align with the new 'SPPS 2033' strategic plan.
Goals and strategies for implementing the Facilities Master Plan, reviewed and approved annually.
Supports the 5-year plan by outlining resources, money, and staffing for building maintenance, reviewed annually.
Historical planning document that set facility standards the district aims to reach.
District plan that Certificates of Participation funding is tied to, used for projects like Farnsworth Lower.
District plan that guides investments in energy efficiency and green energy.
Federal legislation that previously offered funding for geothermal projects; funds were reduced for future projects but still applicable for existing ones like Vento and Hidden River.
Annual program outlining the revenue and expenditures for long-term facility maintenance, submitted to the Minnesota Department of Education.
Official intent to proceed with bond issuance up to $48.4 million for facilities maintenance and $15 million for school building projects.
Federal code related to reimbursement bond regulations.
Governance model under which the board sets and reviews progress on its goals; includes district relations, internal operations, and student outcomes.
State-level assessment for which Fastbridge data serves as an indicator of progress.
Formative assessment tool used for universal screening in K-1 (Early Reading) and grades 2-10 (A Reading) to track student reading progress.
District math curriculum implemented for K-5 students.
District math curriculum for 6-8 students.