“Why do all these children come to RTR? » | News, Sports, Jobs

TYLER — The Russell-Tyler-Ruthton district held the second of three planned listening sessions Wednesday evening to discuss the $20 million bond referendum on the Nov. 5 ballot measure to expand preschool to the 12th grade.

The facility recently underwent expansion construction, after district voters approved a $35 million bond in 2019 that merged the previous three schools into one and opened in 2021.

The new request follows an increase in enrollment that is causing overcrowding and would include various improvements: expansion of 14 additional classrooms for various areas, including special education and functional life skills, expansion of the music classroom elementary, movement of the secondary orchestra. and speech in pre-existing classrooms, additional restrooms for students and staff on each new floor and wing, full-size gymnasium, larger fitness center, larger storage room, center renovation existing fitness center in advisors and an increase in security and control of the south parking lot.

“One of you may be wondering why RTR? Why do all these children come to RTR? » said secondary principal Rick Gossen. “There’s something for everyone here, and that really makes us unique as a small school.” We should be very proud of that… We are very well balanced here and we have programs for many different types of kids.

Total enrollment this year for K-12 is 721 students, an increase of about 116 students over the past five years, and about 60 more since the new building opened for the school year 2021-22.

“I’ve only been here two years, I started third grade, and when I came here two years ago, the enrollment for sixth through twelfth grade, which I look after, was about 350 kids.” , Gossen said. “We picked up about 50 kids in two years, and if you told me this was going to happen, I would have bet less.”

Open enrollment this school year is 172 incoming and 107 outgoing students, for a positive gain of 65.

“The network has about 65 students, and those 65 students bring in about $900,000. » » declared RTR Superintendent David Marlette. “Of those 172 people coming in, 48% and almost half are from districts that don’t have a high school, like Lake Benton, Ivanhoe, Lynd… We have 107 people living in our district who are choosing to send their children out, who pay taxes in our district.

A big public question and concern is the source of the money and its impact on taxes. If passed, the bond bill will be split between taxpayers and the Ag2School tax credit.

Ag2School is a statewide credit that districts use that provides a tax break to farmers while providing schools with construction funding. If the facility proposal is approved, the credit will pay a little more than half the amount and taxpayers will be responsible for 49.5 percent, meaning Ag2School will fund approximately $10.6 million and local taxes will pay approximately $9.4 million.

As an example given by Marlette, a residential property with a market value of $150,000 would have a tax increase of approximately $12 per month, or $148 per month, and varies up or down depending on the property. An agricultural farm with an area of ​​$10,000 would see a monthly increase of 0.16 cents, or $1.90 more per month.

“The Legislature has really helped rural areas of Minnesota become more affordable to build. We are 84% rural farmers, and that is exactly why the legislature created Ag2School. said Marlette. “They wanted to equalize cities and their ability to build school buildings in rural Minnesota by doing this… It will still be 56% less than what we said in 2018.”

Another concern raised was why these improvements were not included in the first rebuild.

“When we started this (first construction), … our workforce was 575 at that time. 575 when we built the school. We built it with the intention of holding up to 700, so it was overkill,” said Craig Hess, vice president of the RTR school board. “At that point, we felt like we were well beyond the limits of construction. We are now at 721 children… We thought that was big enough. This is not an error. It’s a great thing (to increase enrollment) that’s happening and to be that fortune.

Marlette also mentioned that he had received questions about transportation costs, to which he responded that it costs approximately $854 to transport the 172 enrolled students, and $2.41 per mile, but that does not raise any concerns. problem because of the $900,000 net income for the district. increase in registrations.

Another note is that the current facility does not have an upgraded storm shelter, which would be put in place with the full-size gym.

“When we built this building, there were no guidelines or rules for having it,” said Marlette. “A year after this building was constructed, the state issued this requirement… If we expand our building, we are required to do so.

Athletic director Darren Baartman said the additional space would also be used for community purposes, as he regularly receives requests not only for athletic uses, but also for 4H, driver education and scouts.

Gossen said adding a career center would be beneficial because it would allow the counselor and social workers to have more space to work, as they currently have an office in the main building for the all of the students.

Cristy Olsen, elementary principal, spoke about improvements in special education.

“If you have a child who has significant special needs, whether it’s behavior… Whether it’s functional life skills, they need different spaces to be successful and to help them learn life skills. » » Olsen said. “You provide different levels of service, levels one, two, three and four… When you reach a level four placement, that’s an out-of-district placement. But our level threes are intense, and they’re a lot of work, a lot of labor, a lot of space for it to be a good place for them… We have an occupational therapist, we have a physical therapist, we have a teacher in early childhood special education. They are all in one room. We need space for these services.

Marlette commented on the school’s recent success in testing, and he said RTR was 45 points above the state average in academics during the last school year and was sixth in southwest Minnesota, and he said that plays a role in the high quality of staff and facilities.

In addition to a group of community members attending the listening session in person, approximately 130 people watched the live stream online.

The next and final listening session before the vote will take place on October 23 at 7 p.m., at the RTR Performing Arts Center.

“The races we’ve had over the last two or three years, it doesn’t happen very often. We’ve won multiple state championships, our speech team performed exceptionally well, our one-act play won state last year, that doesn’t happen,” said Marlette. “The reason I’m telling you this story is because I want you to understand that the money you spend on this school district will not go to waste. We do a great job with the money you give to our schools.