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The Chisago Lakes School Board took a step toward a major round of parking lot improvements, while also hearing encouraging enrollment numbers and an update on the district’s strategic plan at their latest school board meeting on Thursday, August 20.

The board opened the meeting with a public hearing on the district’s plan to use tax abatement bonds to finance parking lot reconstruction at the Chisago Lakes Middle School.

A representative working with Ehlers Accounting explained that Minnesota law allows school districts to use tax abatement financing for parking lot construction and renovation. Although specific parcels are identified as part of the abatement process, property owners of those parcels do not pay a different tax rate than other taxpayers in the district.

The board approved a resolution allowing the district to move forward with the financing process. The district can issue up to $8.01 million in bonds, with the tax levies spread over 14 years. The district plans to wait until bids are received before selling the bonds, allowing it to borrow closer to the amount actually needed rather than borrowing the full authorized amount. 

Bond issuance is expected in the spring of 2027.

The board received an update on roofing projects throughout the district as well. Work on the Primary School and middle school roof units is essentially complete, with sheet metal work remaining. At the high school, work on the front office and pool areas was nearing completion, with the Performing Arts Center area soon after. 

Dietz also gave the board an early look at enrollment ahead of the new school year.

The district built its budget around a projected enrollment of 3,137 students. At the time of the meeting, Dietz said enrollment was running 40 students ahead of projection, although he cautioned the number will continue to change as families move in and out of the district before and during the school year. 

Dietz was particularly encouraged by continued growth at Wildcat Academy, the district’s online learning program.

The program, which began with a target enrollment of about 36 students when it first started last year, had grown to 95 students. “That’s a pretty important number for us,” Dietz said. He said the district’s goal was to reach roughly 100 to 105 students this year and he expected enrollment to reach triple digits in September.

About 22 percent of Wildcat Academy students currently come from outside the Chisago Lakes district, Dietz added, which is helping to generate funds for the district.

Dietz said the continued growth may eventually force the district to reconsider what it believes the program’s enrollment ceiling will be. Dietz believed the program would level off somewhere around 125 to 150 students, but said changing preferences among students and families could push that number closer to 200. He said the district will reevaluate in December and January to see where the number has gone.

In other action, the board accepted a $1,000 donation from Pheasants Forever for the district’s trap shooting program.

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