District 518 seeks solutions to crowded Worthington High School

Jul. 7—WORTHINGTON — Solving the space shortage at Worthington High School will be the next priority addressed on District 518's list of facility and activity needs, the District 518 Board of Education agreed Thursday.

The board also requested that the potential renewal of the school's existing operating referendum be placed on the agenda for its next Operations Committee meeting.

No votes were taken and no decisions were formally made at the work session.

During the last legislative session, lawmakers decided that a school board could vote to renew its own operating referendum for exactly the same amount and for exactly the same time period the voters approved it for initially.

Since then, the school board has been discussing whether to renew the existing $500 per pupil unit referendum or to return to the taxpayers to request a different amount — potentially with additional funding for its expanding preschool program or for other operating expenses.

A building referendum for an addition or partial remodel of Worthington High School would be a totally separate matter that would need to go before the taxpayers, as it would cost more than the school could pay out of its projected fund balance.

During its work session, the school board reviewed both its enrollment projections and its budget forecast for the next several school years, in order to determine its needs and weigh its options.

Currently, the estimated revenue for the 2023-24 school year is $54.71 million, with estimated expenditures of $54.47 million — a balanced budget. A small gap between projected revenues and expenditures for the following two school years would be filled in by spending down part of the school's fund balance.

However, the budget projections for the 2026-27 school year show an estimated revenue of $60.78 million and estimated expenditures of $63.30 million. That's a significantly larger gap that, if not filled by an increase in the school's operating referendum or through some other funding source, could potentially result in cuts.

Superintendent John Landgaard warned the board that the budget forecast is only an estimate. Potential variables include future legislative changes, unexpected population and enrollment changes and even the costs of state legislation that passed in the last session. He mentioned a new requirement for the school to have a literacy coach on staff, and another requirement that the school provide menstrual products in student bathrooms.

Worthington High School's projected enrollment for the 2023-24 school year is 1,154 students, and as such, it is the only District 518 building that would still be considered crowded, Landgaard said. It is short about six classrooms, its kitchen is cramped and its cafeteria small for the number of kids who use it.

Six or seven teachers do not have classrooms of their own, said WHS Principal Tony Hastings. In addition, some of the teachers who do have classrooms cannot do their prep work there when they aren't teaching, because they are needed for other classes.

It's also important to remember that WHS now houses grades nine through 12, as opposed to just the upper three grades as it did at one point in the past.

District 518's enrollment projections for the high school are for 1,177 students in 2024-25, 1,132 the following year and 1,023 the year after that, so the crowded conditions aren't expected to change soon.

Board member Tom Prins expressed concern about potentially needing to ask taxpayers to fund a WHS addition at about the same time the school would need to ask taxpayers for an increased operating referendum.

"If we try to do two at once, it's never going to fly," he said, though he noted he wasn't necessarily in favor of a referendum.

"... the high school addition is going to be, no doubt, a voter question, in my opinion," said board member Adam Blume. "You're going to be looking at that, you're going to be looking at another operating referendum in possibly five years ... I don't question that it's a good thing to, probably, renew it, but I have fear that we're also ... setting ourselves up for failure and five years of getting turned down on one of the votes."

No decisions were made during the meeting, and the board will continue to discuss the issues in the future.

While addressing the high school was their highest facilities priority, they also considered the school's activities needs, particularly regarding potentially adding soccer, baseball or softball fields.

They also discussed the Worthington Ice Arena, which is owned by the Worthington Hockey Association, managed by the city of Worthington and located on land owned by the Nobles County Fair Board. The groups are considering the option of replacing the arena or renovating the existing one, with options including adding a sheet of ice or reconstructing the existing shell.

Which organizations would pay for which portion of the project has not yet been determined, but estimated costs of a new facility range from $24 million to $39 million. Renovations and additions to the current facility have a wide cost range depending on what is to be done, but even simply reconstructing the shell over the existing facility would cost an estimated $16 million.