District maintenance projects continue as Fit for the Future construction ramps up
Across Anoka-Hennepin, many children go to school in the same buildings their parents and guardians went to when they were kids. They use the same lockers, play in the same gymnasiums, learn in the same classrooms.
Anoka-Hennepin has more than 43 school buildings in all, and most of them are closing in on 50 years old. In fact, Anoka-Hennepin built 17 schools as enrollment grew during the 1960’s. In addition, Franklin Elementary School and the Sandburg Education Center, both in Anoka, are both more than 100 years old. That said, all of the district’s buildings have full and rich histories in their neighborhoods and communities.
Drive past any district school this summer, and folks might see some work being done. New asphalt to replace the crumbling surfaces at Champlin Park High School; new ventilation systems to replace the aging machines and improve air quality at a number of schools around the district — the projects are all part of annual, long-term facilities maintenance (LTFM) projects the district does every year.
“Maintaining our schools is a lot like maintaining your house,” said Chuck Holden, the district’s chief operations officer. “Just like the home you live in, we need to maintain the roof, the windows, the furnace — those are the things we use our LTFM budget for.”
The projects are funded with property tax money, Holden said, and every year, the School Board approves a new 10-year LTFM plan, which is then submitted to the Minnesota Department of Education. The most recent LTFM plan approved by the School Board June 25 had some big changes due to the larger-scale Fit for the Future construction work that is being financed by the bond referendum approved by voters last November.
“Basically, we want to align maintenance projects with the Fit for the Future bond projects because it saves time and money,” Holden said. “If we’re already working at a site, it’s easier and more cost-effective to do some of that maintenance work at the site as well.”
Fit for the Future projects are on a four-year plan. This year, the district’s five high schools have large-scale work being done, so some LTFM projects were bumped up to coincide with that work. In a couple years when the second and third phases of the referendum work begins, those sites will have their LTFM projects done as well.
“We prioritize (LTFM) projects based on safety and learning,” Holden said. “We have almost 40,000 students and we want to protect them and give them an environment where they feel safe and comfortable to learn.”
The LTFM budget fluctuates every year in order to manage the tax impact for the community, Holden said. While this year’s projects will invest about $14.4 million, next year, in order to keep taxes from increasing, the LTFM tax levy was reduced by $5.6 million, which was a promise the School Board made when voters approved the referendum last year.
But Holden said the LTFM budget will increase slightly in future years as other levy obligations are eliminated. For example, the district still pays to lease 62 portable classrooms at schools around the district. The Fit for the Future plan was approved by voters explicitly to replace those portable classrooms with permanent space at schools, and as construction is finished and those portables are phased out, the district will be able to dedicate money away from lease costs and back toward LTFM projects.
“We are proud of these buildings,” Holden said. “Students and parents and guardians and staff are walking into these great facilities and not worrying about them, and that’s important because our whole business is educating kids.”