WINONA, Minn. — The Winona School Board voted 6-1 to proceed with planning for projects that include major upgrades of existing buildings – although no new buildings. The upgrades, priced at $87 million, were recommended by consultants — but with provisos. These provisos included prioritizing some projects over others, rather than going for the full $87 million in a single referendum to increase property taxes. Spacing out the projects could assuage the sticker shock of a single tax hike for voters, the consultants advised. The dissenter in proceeding was Board member Steve Schild. He remained adamant that maintaining all three existing elementary schools, as the consultants recommended, fails to recognize projected enrollment declines. Also, rather than costly repairs and updates to the aging Goodview, Jefferson and Washington-Kosciusko schools, a single new consolidated elementary school, built from scratch to state-of-the-art standards, makes more long-term sense financially, Schild said.
