Students in the Forest Lake district are back to school early this year to make more time next summer for planned construction work across the district.
Classes began Monday for the district’s nearly 6,400 students, two weeks ahead of the typical start of school. Minnesota law requires districts to start after Labor Day unless they have special permission from the state or to accommodate large construction projects.
Forest Lake is in the middle of a multi-year, districtwide school renovation and addition project funded by a $143 million capital levy approved by voters in 2015. The work includes improvements to a dozen school buildings, including the creation of a new facility for seventh- and eighth-graders on the site of Century Middle School.
Larry Martini, the district business manager, said the early start will allow students to finish classes before Memorial Day next spring and give construction workers more time to finish projects at several buildings. Renovations across the district are expected to be completed by 2020.
But more school construction in Forest Lake may be on the horizon.
In early August, school board members unanimously voted to put a $9 million capital levy before voters in November to fund improvements to the district’s arts and athletics facilities. District leaders are also asking for a $750 per pupil increase to an existing operating levy.
The capital levy is half the size of the $18 million proposal rejected by voters in 2015 — the same year they approved the larger levy for school maintenance.
Forest Lake had a backlog of maintenance needs, but school leaders struggled to win voter backing of capital levies to fund the work.
District officials also were part of a push at the Legislature to provide more regular state funding to districts for routine facility upgrades and repairs. The current two-year state budget includes $184 million in funding for school maintenance across Minnesota.