Stillwater Area Public School District voters approve referendum; elect Lauer to school board

Mary Divine, Pioneer Press
Updated ·3 min read

New elementary schools will be built in Bayport and Lake Elmo and a host of safety and security improvements will be made at other schools in the Stillwater Area School District following passage of Tuesday’s bond referendum.

Voters approved the $175 million bond referendum by a 57-43% margin. The money will be used to fund construction projects to address growth in the southern and central parts of the district and the addition of safety and security improvements at all district schools, including a secured front entrance addition and remodel at Stillwater Area High School in Oak Park Heights.

Voters in the district also elected Chris Lauer to the school board.

Passage of the bond means the district can add capacity in the communities served by Andersen Elementary in Bayport and Lake Elmo Elementary, the two oldest schools in the district, and construct additional classroom space and a new gymnasium at Oak-Land Middle School in Lake Elmo.

About 1,000 new students are projected to join the district over the next 10 years, according to district officials.

“We would like to thank the citizens of our district for putting the needs of our students first,” said Superintendent Mike Funk. “The results of the election illustrate what great things we can do for our school communities when we work together.”

Lake Elmo

The district has entered into a purchase agreement for a 47-acre site on the corner of Lake Elmo Avenue and 10th Street North in Lake Elmo for a new Lake Elmo Elementary School.

Lake Elmo Elementary, which was built in 1920, is already near capacity and enrollment is expected to grow by more than 200 students in the next 10 years; Lake Elmo is the fastest growing city in Minnesota.

The new school will give the district more room to co-locate Lake Elmo and Amigos Unidos in a single 1,100-student campus; provide increased capacity to address future growth within the community, and provide room to expand enrollment in the Amigos Unidos Dual Language Spanish Immersion program.

Bayport

District officials have been working with People’s Congregational Church in Bayport and Bayport city officials on a plan to purchase 10 acres of land just west of Barker’s Alps Park on the west side of Bayport for a new Andersen Elementary School.

Andersen Elementary was built in 1919 and district officials have been looking at building a new school in either Bayport or Baytown Township. The school, located in downtown Bayport, is landlocked and sits on just 1.3 acres of land, and there is no potential to expand at the site, according to school district officials. About 330 students attend Andersen.

A new school would increase capacity to address growth at Andersen, as well as relieve pressure at Afton-Lakeland Elementary School. It also would offer staffing efficiencies and less turnover of shared staff, include flexible learning spaces and modern learning environments and provide designated specialist spaces for music, media, art and special education.

Both new schools will have designated specialist spaces for music, media, art and special education; larger gymnasiums, cafeterias and other community/gathering spaces, and larger campuses with more playing fields and green space.

The $175 million request is expected to cost taxpayers with a median-priced home of $500,000 approximately $200 a year for 20 years.

School board

In the school board election, Lauer got 61% of the vote and defeated Jessica Johnson to win the seat that was vacated when board member Eva Lee resigned in January.

Lauer was appointed in February to fill the position until a successor was elected. Lauer supported the bond referendum; Johnson did not.

According to Washington County, 29 percent of the school district’s 48,874 registered voters voted in the election.

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