Winona Area Public Schools to ask voters for more than $90 million during referendum

Jordan Shearer, Post-Bulletin, Rochester, Minn.
·2 min read

Jan. 19—WINONA — Winona Area Public Schools will ask voters to approve more than $90 million during a referendum in April that would fund construction and renovation projects throughout the district.

The proposal will be presented in the form of two questions. The first will ask voters to approve $72.5 million. The second question, which is dependent on voters approving the first, will ask voters to approve an additional $21.7 million. If voters approve both questions, it will amount to a total of $94.2 million.

According to Superintendent Annette Freiheit, the funding would help renovate aging facilities.

"We've recognized there is a distinct need to remodel some of the buildings to be in line with what we know now in regard to the jobs that are out in the economy, and maybe jobs we don't even know about yet," Freiheit said. "But also to be in line with what we know about brain research and the way kids learn — and using that be the foundation for the learning spaces we want to design and put in place in the schools."

The funding would go toward a slew of projects. The first question would fund updates to the district's career and technical education space, address accessibility issues, build "small additions" onto two of the elementary schools, and remodel classrooms into "fitness and activity space" at the Winona Area Learning Center.

The second question would would fund "improvements to extracurricular spaces, including the addition of a sorely needed gymnasium at the high school and accessible, equitable locker rooms," according to information provided by the district. The second question also would provide for the remodeling of the high school music area.

Located on the western bank of the Mississippi River 45 miles east of Rochester, Winona Area Public Schools has a total enrollment of 2,556.

The School District hosted a similar referendum in 2017 when it asked voters to approve $82.3 million. Voters overwhelmingly rejected that proposal with more than 90% of the vote.

Then in 2018, voters approved a smaller funding amount of $9.4 million, which was used to address "the district's most dire needs, including accessibility, safety and security upgrades," according to the district's website.

In spite of voters largely rejecting the request six years ago, the school district is expecting more favorable results this time. The district contracted with a firm to conduct a community survey on the possible referendum. According to the results, 56% of those surveyed either "support" or "strongly support" a referendum of $87 million, and 5% of those surveyed were unsure or refused to answer.

Even though voters didn't approve the 2017 referendum, Freiheit explained there has been a lot of turnover in leadership in the years since. Freiheit herself came to the district in 2019.

"I think there's some real growth that our community has had in support of our public schools," Freiheit said.