Winona — Winona area public schools will ask voters to approve more than $90 million in an April referendum to fund construction and renovation projects throughout the district.
Suggestions are presented in the form of two questions. The first asks voters to approve her $72.5 million. The second question depends on voters approving the first question and asks voters to approve her $21.7 million more. If voters approved both questions, the total would be her $94.2 million.
Superintendent Annette Freiheit said the money will help renovate the aging facility.
“We see a definite need to remodel some buildings to match what we currently know about jobs that are out in the economy, and perhaps about jobs that we don’t yet know. “But we also need to match what we know about brain research and how children learn,” Freiheit said. is the foundation for the learning spaces we want to design and install in our schools.”
Funds are directed towards many projects. The first question was to fund updates to the district’s career and technical education space, address accessibility issues, build “small additions” to two elementary schools, and transform classrooms into Winona Area Learning Center’s “Fitness and Activities.” Convert to Space.
The second question, according to information provided by the school district, is to fund “extracurricular space improvements, including the addition of much-needed gymnasiums and accessible and equitable changing rooms in high schools.” The second question also offers mods for the high school music field.
A total of 2,556 students are enrolled in the Winona Area Public Schools, located 45 miles east of Rochester on the west bank of the Mississippi River.
The school district held a similar referendum in 2017, asking voters to approve $82.3 million. Voters overwhelmingly rejected the proposal with over 90% of his vote.
Then, in 2018, voters approved a modest amount of $9.4 million. The funds were used to address “the district’s most pressing needs, including accessibility, safety and security upgrades,” according to the district’s website.
Voters largely rejected the request six years ago, but the district is hoping for a more favorable outcome this time. The constituency contracted a company to conduct community research on possible referendums. The results show that 56% of those surveyed either “supported” or “strongly supported” her $87 million referendum, and 5% of those surveyed were unclear or refused to respond. .
Voters did not approve the 2017 referendum, but Freiheit explained that there were many leadership changes in the years that followed. Freiheit himself said he came to the district in 2019.
“I think our community has made some real growth in supporting our public schools,” Freiheit said.
