Cambridge-Isanti superintendent shares information about referendum

As voters in the Cambridge-Isanti school district prepare to weigh in on two ballot questions in November, superintendent Nate Rudolph discussed the referendum in an interview last week.

The proposed referendum totals about $124 million across both questions.

"Our referendum started, really, a few years back," Rudolph explained, "We brought together, when it was all said and done, about 150 community members who weighed in on a strategic plan that was built for our school district."

Rudolph said last year was the second year of implementing the strategic plan, including demography and facility studies.

A group of about 60 community members from the district met seven times, clocking in for about 30 hours of work, to help give the district guidance for long-term planning.

"In the end, it resulted in the referendum that we have out in front of our community right now," Rudolph said. "We're proud to share that it's truly built by our community for our community."

The first question seeks $87.1 million to invest across all school sites, including expanding capacity at the elementary buildings, updating secure entrances and accessibility, addressing aging infrastructure and deferred maintenance, and improving athletic and activity facilities.

"Some of our buildings are very old and haven't been touched for many years," Rudolph said.

Rudolph explained that the district's schools get about a dollar per square foot per year for upkeep funding — the standard is about $4.

"Deferred maintenance are really the critical structures inside this plan, where if they fail, we close school," Rudolph said. "So that's a main pillar of the referendum."

If the first question doesn't pass, Rudolph said the district would go back to the drawing board with another community task force.

"We are firm believers that our school district and our facilities are owned by our community, and so we need them to help guide us," Rudolph said.

Rudolph added that each year that construction waits, there's an additional inflationary cost.

The second question — which is contingent on the first question passing — proposes an additional $36 million investment to build a new indoor fieldhouse at Cambridge-Isanti High School.

The fieldhouse would house four sport courts, and feature a 200-meter track and community walking track with 24/7 access.

"Our club sports, our youth sports organizations, we just don't have enough space to allow them to practice and share that space," Rudolph said.

Rudolph added that, according to "a really conservative analysis," the fieldhouse project would bring about $130 million of increased benefit to the local economy over a 10-year span.

That includes about 200 to 250 temporary jobs for building out the project over a five-year timeline, and projecting approximately 12 tournaments being held there a year.

Rudolph said that enrollment in the district is projected to remain steady over the next ten years.

"This moment in time allows us, really, to take on our aging facilities and do these needed upgrades," Rudolph said.