Nevis School
Bond 2006
What has happened since the last time there was a vote on a Nevis School bond?
- Property taxes have increased.
- State financial support of education has decreased.
- The student population of the school district has decreased.
Does this school district need the bond to expand the school for students from this district?
The school building was completed in 1998 and designed to house 400 students from this district. Today there are 281 students from this district; 119 "open-enrolled" students could be accepted without creating an over-crowded environment.
Unfortunately, the Nevis School has chosen to bring in 239 "open-enrollees," bringing the total student population to 520. Therefore an attempt to obtain $3,705,000 is requested to accommodate the over-crowding situation.
ADVERTISEMENT
I can't blame the parents of the "open-enrollee" students for wanting to attend Nevis School; we are fortunate to have such a good school and teaching staff. Unfortunately, the tax dollars from these families go to other districts and the residents of Nevis School Dist. 308 will be burdened with funding additions not created by our district.
I will close this letter with a quote taken from the 2004 spring edition of the Waconia Patriot newspaper, titled "No open enrollment at Waconia."
"For the second time in the past three years, Waconia will close its doors to new open-enrollment students in the 2004-05 school year.
"Open-enrollment students were only allowed in the elementary and middle school this year. Currently the school has 140 open-enrolled students.
"Children of the school faculty, however, will be allowed to open-enroll.
"Superintendent Jerry Kjergaard said it's a matter of conserving space, saying the district's responsibility lies first with the students in its boundaries. Three of the district's four schools are at, or beyond, maximum capacity."
James "Jerry" D. Cole
Nevis
