Robbinsdale School Board Sends $413M in Referendums to Ballot

Voters in the Robbinsdale Area School District will find up to $413 million in bonding requests on their November ballot.

The Robbinsdale School Board approved ballot language for three referendum questions on Monday, July 20.

If voters give the go-ahead, the district expects to use the money to create a single unified high school campus, reconfigure its middle schools and construct a new elementary school.

It comes as the district has faced declining enrollment and significant financial challenges.

While grappling with a $20 million accounting mistake, the district closed several schools and laid off about 200 employees.

Now, officials say the district faces a “critical crossroads for its future.”

“This bond referendum is our opportunity to build a predictable, intentional path forward,” said Superintendent Teri Staloch in a press release. “By rightsizing our facilities, we can stop spending money on underutilized, ineffective, and inefficient spaces and invest directly in the programs and learning spaces our students want, need, and deserve.”

The board voted 5-1 to send the questions to the ballot.

Three Questions on the Ballot

Question No. 1 on the ballot offers the most financially significant proposition with voters deciding the fate of $343 million in capital projects. The district called Question No. 1 the “foundational plan” in a press release.

If approved, Question No. 1 “would consolidate the district’s two traditional high schools into a single, comprehensive campus, and utilize remaining secondary schools more efficiently, while organizing elementary schools into more equitable neighborhood schools,” a press release reads.

More specifically, the district would renovate and expand Cooper High School, making it the district’s only high school with room for 3,000 students.

Plymouth and Sandburg middle schools would see improvements, while Armstrong High School would be repurposed to house multiple programs including Robbinsdale Spanish Immersion and and Highview Alternative Learning Center.

Meanwhile, question No. 2, which is valued at $17 million, is contingent on the passing of question No. 1. If voters approve this question, plans would change with Armstrong remodeled to serve as Plymouth Middle School. 

The existing Plymouth Middle School would then be repurposed to house Robbinsdale Spanish Immersion and other programming.

The pool at Sandburg Middle School School would be converted into a 400-seat theater space.

Question No. 3, valued at $53 million, is contingent on the passing of questions No. 1 and No. 2.

Voter approval would fund the construction of a new elementary school at the current Robbinsdale Middle School site along with other school renovations.

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