Please read article from August 20th Walsh County Record:
Minto Public School Identifies Improvement Needs
http://www.wcrecord.com/documents/FootbalPreview/Page_006.pdf
Thursday, August 28, 2014
Grand Forks Herald
Minto considers $5.8 million school project
A special election is set for Sept. 23 in Minto, N.D., on a proposed $5.8 million school expansion and remodeling project to address space and physical building issues.
“Space is really our No. 1 issue,” said Linda Lutovsky, Minto School District superintendent.
K-12 enrollment, estimated at 235 this year, is just short of the record 238 set in 2004-05. Enrollment projections indicate the student population will remain near that level or grow over the next decade.
Open enrollment gains over the past decade have netted the district an average net increase of 13 students annually, including 16 per year over the past three years.
Major work planned, if the mill levy is approved, includes a 5,500-square-foot addition to the high school and remodeling of the elementary and junior high wings.
The elementary school was built in 1955; the junior high addition in 1960; and the high school wing added in 1969.
“We’ve had no updates since then, so it’s time,” Lutovsky said. “We’ve carved out rooms for Title 1 and Special Ed, and they haven’t met the students’ needs.”
A needs assessment, which was conducted in part through surveys of district residents and staff and shared during public meetings earlier this year, identified several necessary improvements.
The list was pared down from a potential $10 million project to $5.8 million. To raise the $5.8 million, district voters would have to approve a 74-mill property tax increase, by a 60 percent majority.
A 74-mill increase would cost the owner of a $50,000 house an extra $166.50 annually and the owner of a $100,000 house an extra $333.
Agricultural landowners would see tax increases of about $3.50 to about $5 per acre. The amounts vary by township, depending on agricultural production and other factors.
The project, if approved, would include reconfiguring the junior high and elementary portions of the school, according to Lutovsky. In addition to junior high classrooms, the junior high wing currently houses the kindergarten and one elementary classroom.
“This would separate the elementary,” she said.
The project also would include: roof replacement on all wings; a new heating, ventilation and air handling system; as well as restroom renovations. The elementary wing would get window and door improvements.
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