How Edina school district aims to spend $125M

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Edina school officials say their buildings are more than 40 years old on average and haven’t kept pace with current needs for education.

That’s why the Edina Public Schools system is asking voters to approve a $125 million bond referendum that would update learning areas in all 10 of the district’s schools and add 65,000 square feet to Edina High School, among other upgrades.

“We have old buildings that were built for a different time, and we want our buildings to reflect what our learners need today and in the future,” district communications director Susan Brott said Friday.

If its May 5 referendum measure passes, the district would start a six- to nine-month design process with construction bids planned in early 2016 and construction later that year, Brott said.

Other districts with upcoming bond initiatives include Stillwater ($98 million referendum in May), Burnsville ($65 million in February), South Washington County ($180 million, fall 2015), St. Peter ($58 million in March), and Cloquet ($55.8 million in February).

Proposals for new high schools in Detroit Lakes and St. Cloud are also expected to go before voters in 2015, said Tony Sjolander, a DLR Group associate who works with school districts on bond referendums.

Last fall, voters across the state approved $438 million worth of school projects, including a $98.03 million referendum in Elk River. The passage rate was 70 percent.

Sjolander said $2 billion worth of projects were proposed to go before voters between May 2014 and May 2015.

Deferred maintenance and a need for updated learning environments are driving the activity. Old-style schools with classrooms on either side of a long hallway are giving way to more flexible spaces suitable for individual and group learning, he said.

Students “can’t meet the requirements of the job market if they are learning the way we learned in the ’70s and ’80s,” Sjolander said. “It’s a different world.”

While some districts want money for new ground-up construction or deferred maintenance, the Edina district is focused largely on what it calls “next-generation learning spaces.”

The district hopes to do that, in part, by making its learning spaces more flexible for individual instruction and group learning.

“We know there is still a need for that traditional classroom format,” Brott said. “But we can’t have all the spaces look like that. It’s not meeting the needs of our learners.”

The addition to Edina High School would allow the district to move 650 ninth-graders there, joining students in grades 10 through 12. The goal is to provide “a comprehensive high school experience,” the district says in its draft proposal.

The Edina High School, at 6754 Valley View Road, would get 28 to 30 new teaching stations, flexible spaces for individual and group learning, security and classroom improvements, a renovated media center, additional offices and more.

Brott said the existing space is tight, but there is room for expansion.

The district plans similar renovations in middle school and elementary school buildings. Some elementary schools may get additional square footage for things like gymnasiums and large group learning areas.

Other plans include a 70,000-square-foot multipurpose activity center, safety and security improvements districtwide, new athletic field updates, and parking improvements.

The district is working with St. Paul-based Wold Architects and Engineers on its plans, though detailed design work wouldn’t begin until after voters approve the referendum. The district is also consulting with the city, neighbors, the watershed district and others, Brott said.

Construction would probably be spread out over a couple of years, with all the improvements completed by 2018, Brott said.