School referendum II: It’s official

Talk about it

The school board at its regular Monday night, Sept. 19, unanimously approved a second referendum in just over a half year. The first referendum for just under $39 million failed in a close vote last April. The new one in November will be for slightly more than $38 million, but it will be broken up into three questions. Each separate question will be for a different phase of repairs, upgrades and additions, and carry its own price tag.

The school board also approved a land swap with the Lyle and Roberta Johnson family, town of River Falls, along the Kinnickinnic River southwest of the city.

That swap was later approved by school district residents at the Annual Meeting. Also at the Annual Meeting, district voters approved a new school tax levy that will result in a near 1% drop, on average, of the school portion of taxes for River Falls area property owners.

The land swap – characterized as “historic” -- between the district and the Johnsons has been in the works for years. It won’t be legally finalized until spring.

The Kinnickinnic River Land Trust acted as facilitator in the deal. KRLT is helping the district obtain a DNR grant for a conservation easement for the newly acquired land.

The land to the school district increases the acreage for its school forest and keeps all the forest land on one side of the Kinni.

The school district forest, with its biological diversity, is viewed as a prime outdoor laboratory for environmental education at all grade levels.

It now totals nearly 75 acres but, even with the land swap, still is landlocked and lacks public access. The land swap brings the forest closer to an area where public access is possible.

The school forest is a ½ mile west of Rocky Branch Elementary School. On its southern edge, it comes close to the Birch Cliff residential subdivision.

To read more, please see the Sept. 21 print edition of the River Falls Journal.

Tags: river falls, education, government