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Brainerd won't lease classrooms to charter school
Staff Writer The Brainerd School Board on Monday denied a request by organizers of Discovery Woods Montessori School to lease classrooms at Washington Educational Services Building for the proposed charter school.
Superintendent Steve Razidlo told the board that the administrative recommendation is to not lease the third-floor classrooms at Washington to the charter school, which is planning to open this fall.
Razidlo said the district is facing financial uncertainties during the next few years with the state's looming budget deficit. He said the state's budget forecast is perhaps reason enough for the district to pause at investing about $100,000 in capital improvements to those classrooms for the school, even if the charter school would be paying those renovation costs back to the district as part of its proposed three-year lease.
Razidlo also added that a 2009 state law allowing for site-governed schools as charter-like alternatives for school districts may allow the Brainerd district to open its own Montessori-based school with fewer upfront costs and increased revenue.
Minnesota lawmakers established district-created site-governed schools in 2009. They are considered by many in education as a way for school districts to compete with the growing number of charter schools. The schools remain part of a school district and are covered by union contracts.
The kindergarten through sixth-grade Discovery Woods school is proposed to serve 76 students next fall, 120 students the second year and 144 students the third year.
At a previous school board facilities committee meeting, Steve Lund, director of business services, said the maximum net revenue for the district from the lease proposal for Discovery Woods at Washington would be $64,611 the first year, $77,407 the second year and $91,868 the third year.
If all the students at the Montessori school would have been Brainerd students, the potential funding loss to the district is $392,934 the first year it is open, $669,626 the second year and $773,899 the third year, Lund said.
Board member Tom Haglin said he was not in favor of the district paying for capital improvements or increasing the district's operational costs by hiring a part-time custodian for the charter school, even if the district was to be reimbursed over three years.
Board chair Kent Montgomery agreed with Haglin, adding that since some Brainerd students would be attending the Montessori school, state funding also would shift to the new charter school.
Board member Jim Hunt said the district should look into its own site-governed school before it does anything else, such as lease property to a charter school.
Board member Reed Campbell said the district has its own needs in its buildings for capital outlay projects.
Montgomery said that the board's decision to not lease space to Discovery Woods should not be construed in any way as the board's view of Montessori education, but was a matter of the district's short-term challenges, such as its own financial and space needs.
Board member Ruth Nelson said the district will continue to work with Discovery Woods on other issues, such as busing.
Contacted after the meeting, Discovery Woods board chair Courtney Neifert said plans for the charter school will continue. She said organizers have other options they are looking at in Brainerd and would have to get a conditional use permit to open at another non-school location. She said the Washington site was the least expensive location within the school district.
She said the former Whittier school is not an option because of a handicapped accessibility issue and higher renovation costs. Also, if the board refused to lease out classrooms at Washington, Neifert said board members likely wouldn't consider leasing Whittier either.
"We're going to open somewhere," Neifert said. "I had hoped the school board would want to get the lease money. ... We have staff members interested and interested students."
JODIE TWEED may be reached at jodie.tweed@brainerddispatch.com or 855-5858.
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