FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

When is the referendum?

Election day is August 8, 2023 from 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. There are also several options to vote early. Make your plan to vote by visiting the voting information webpage.

How was the decision made to build a new school?

The initial process started in 2016-2017, where facility and educational assessments were completed in both buildings. This included the physical, functional, and educational needs of the buildings. In 2021, the School Board asked for a volunteer community-driven taskforce to study current school conditions and provide a recommendation to the Board as to what next steps should be taken regarding school infrastructure issues.

This citizen’s committee of 15, invested over 18 hours of time doing the following:

• Reviewing previous and updated engineering assessments.

• Touring both schools.

• Studying district demographic and enrollment information.

• Learning about MN school finance, the District’s current financial position, and funding options from the District’s financial consultant.

• Developing a community-wide survey.

• Making a final recommendation to the school board.

The taskforce considered four primary options:

• Do nothing.

• Only fix immediate needs.

• Fix all needs and remodel to address future-ready learning environments.

• Build a new PK-12 school.

After exploring the costs and efforts required to fix existing buildings compared to building a new PK-12 building, the taskforce recommended building a new PK-12 school and on February 21, 2023, the School Board unanimously passed a resolution committing to move forward with planning for a new PK-12 school.

What does future enrollment look like for G-E Schools?

Enrollment trends are difficult to predict especially after COVID-19.  There are also the open enrollment possibilities that we try to predict.  Based on the numbers from the past several years, our K-12 enrollment has stayed consistent.  There was some fluctuation immediately after the pandemic but that has leveled off.

Will there be spaces created that the community can use (community center type gym)?

Our current plans do not have a specific community fitness center planned, but there will be two gymnasiums along with several open/community-use areas.

Where would kids go to school if buildings close and the District dissolves?

Understanding the value of our school and the impact it has on our communities, we are committed to keeping the district intact through the solution presented to voters. Closing the District and merging with another is complex and has undesirable consequences.

• Residents would likely pay higher school property taxes to the new school district compared to what is currently being paid to Glenville-Emmons.

• Students would likely spend more time driving or on buses in order to get to/from their new school including extracurricular activities.

• Current Glenville-Emmons contracts would be voided, including those that allow students to attend school in Iowa.

How did our buildings fall so far into disrepair?

The reason is essentially due to funding and cost. Glenville-Emmons receives about 75% of its funding from the State of MN, with a small portion from the Federal government (about 2%) and local property tax and other sources (about 23%).

• Funding from the State is mainly for day-to-day operations of the school district (e.g. teacher salaries, programming and educational materials, special education, utilities, etc.), while responsibility for buildings and equipment is largely the responsibility of the local community.

• Like other small rural school districts in Minnesota, Glenville-Emmons receives a relatively small amount of money each year to maintain facilities, which is far less than the cost of significant repairs or replacements such as a roof.

• The only way small rural districts can complete significant projects like these is generally through a bond referendum.

• Glenville-Emmons has not had a referendum to address facility projects in many years for various reasons. The result of delaying maintenance projects has been continued worsening of building conditions (e.g. every year a roof is not fixed, additional leaks occur which can lead to structural issues, decreased indoor air quality, damage to equipment and materials, etc.) and more expensive projects due to inflation.

Didn’t we just pass a referendum? What was that money used for?

The previous referendum, in 2018, was an operating referendum (or levy override). Nearly 70% of districts have passed an operating referendum to help support student programming and other operational aspects of the budget but is generally not used for major facility related projects.

How do we make sure the schools will be taken care of and this won’t happen again?

Passing the referendum and building a new school would result in minimal long-term maintenance costs as everything is new. This allows the school district to set aside money for maintenance and address any issues early and cost-effectively. Additionally, the new building systems are highly efficient, leading to reduced day-to-day utility costs. The savings from this can be used to add programming or teachers for the benefit of the students.

If buildings were required to close, how would redistricting affect local school taxes? 

• All residents would continue to pay school property taxes, however, taxes would be paid to the new school district rather than Glenville-Emmons.

• Based on current tax rates, it is anticipated that taxes would increase if our district were merged with another district.

What are the Glenville-Emmons current enrollment and open enrollment numbers?