Frequently Asked Questions

Find answers to your questions about the bond referendum.

Questions About The Challenges At Our Facilities and Grounds

  • Cook County Schools is committed to ensuring that our learning spaces and grounds are prepared to serve the next generation of students. Our current PreK-12 school building has been carefully maintained, but faces several challenges, including:

    • A lack of common/multi-purpose space where students can gather before and after school, or to host community events.

    • Undersized and outdated classrooms that do not meet MN Department of Education guidelines for learning spaces.

    • Student services (such as counseling, nursing, mental health, and administration) that are scattered throughout the building, rather than located in a central location.

    • Aging HVAC and water heating systems that are at or beyond their life expectancy.

    • Restrooms, locker rooms, and athletics that are not ADA-compliant.

    • Insufficient gym space, which limits our school’s ability to host athletics tournaments or large events.

    • No running track or multi-season turf to accommodate athletes.

    You can read a more comprehensive summary of the challenges the referendum aims to address at VikingsVision.org/challenges.

Questions About The Planning Process

  • Starting in 2023, our district partnered with ICS, a leading consultant with extensive experience working with school districts across Minnesota to improve their buildings and classrooms. With ICS, we completed several assessments to determine the quality and educational adequacy of our school building. These assessments included:

    • A comprehensive facility study to evaluate the physical condition and quality of our existing school building.

    • Demographics and enrollment projections to identify enrollment trends and project future enrollment based on census data.

    • An educational adequacy assessment to evaluate every space in our school to determine if our building complies with the Minnesota Department of Education’s recommended guidelines.

    • Nine listening sessions with community members, staff, and students which helped identify challenges at our building and opportunities to improve learning spaces for our students, staff, and community.

    We used these assessment results and feedback from community members to prioritize the most critical needs of our school building and worked extensively with financial experts to create a fiscally responsible investment plan for our schools and community.

  • Yes. Our district completed an enrollment analysis that projects enrollment growth of approximately 8.2% (from 426 students to 461 students) over the next decade.

  • The referendum plan was developed by our district using input from our community listening sessions and assessments, with help from DSGW Architects and financial guidance from PMA Securities.

Questions About The Plan

  • On Tuesday, November 5, voters in the Cook County School District will consider three ballot questions which, if approved, will invest $36.78 million to improve safety, accessibility, and educational adequacy at our PreK-12 building. 

    Each ballot question asks voters to consider investments for a different part of our district’s facilities and grounds. Question Two is contingent upon Question One passing, and Question Three is contingent upon both Question One and Question Two passing. You can see the proposed investments included under each ballot question here.

  • The earliest sections of our PreK-12 school building were constructed in 1952. Over the years, the building has received updates and additions to meet the evolving educational needs of the community, but several spaces struggle to meet standards for today’s students and curriculum.

    Our district’s assessments completed throughout 2023 and 2024 identified several areas of our school buildings that either do not meet the MN Department of Education’s recommended guidelines or were recognized as opportunities for improvement by students, staff, and community members. The proposed bond referendum seeks to seize these opportunities to prepare our building to best meet the needs of the next generation of students.

  • A bond referendum is an election that allows residents to decide whether a school district should incur debt by issuing bonds to fund improvements to its school buildings. Bonds give school districts the ability to make large-scale improvements immediately while paying off the cost of the investments over a longer period of time, similar to a mortgage. The annual payments are made using property tax revenue.

  • Yes. In November 2022, residents voted to approve a renewal of our district’s operating levy, which provides funding for curriculum, staffing, transportation, and other operating expenses. In 2016, voters also approved a bond to refurbish certain spaces at our PreK-12 school.

    Today, over 70% of school districts in Minnesota have active voter-approved levies that help pay for facility improvements, technology, or general operating costs.

  • Strong schools attract families, businesses and industries, which can stimulate economic growth in a community and create job opportunities. Schools often serve as a hub for community education and events, fostering a sense of belonging among residents. New investments - or a lack of them - in schools and their facilities can significantly influence these impacts of schools within our communities.

  • If voters reject the ballot questions, our district will need to defer the proposed improvements until a later date. Future investments are likely to face higher construction costs, further pushing out the timeline for today’s students, staff, and community members to benefit from improvements to our facilities. Only investments detailed by the approved questions will be completed. Funds will be used exclusively to complete approved projects and cannot be redirected to pay for improvements not explicitly approved by voters.

  • Can’t find an answer to your question on this website? Use the contact form on the Connect page to reach out to us. You can also contact Superintendent Chris Lindholm at clindholm@isd166.org.

Questions About The Tax Impact

  • Approved referendum questions will be paid for with a tax increase on all properties in Cook County School District, including seasonal/recreational properties. 

    • The tax impact of Question One on an average residential home valued at $400,000 would be $18 per month.

    • The tax impact of Question Two on an average residential home valued at $400,000 would be $8 per month.

    • The tax impact of Question Three on an average residential home valued at $400,000 would be $3 per month

    The combined tax impact of all three ballot questions on an average residential home valued at $400,000 would be $29 per month. To see the tax impact on your property, use our Tax Calculator. 

  • No. Taxes to pay down approved bonds would expire after 20 years or when the bonds have been fully paid, whichever happens sooner.

  • Yes. Minnesota offers multiple other tax credits and deferrals that can reduce the tax impact of an approved referendum, such as the Minnesota Homestead Credit Refund, Special Property Tax Refund, and the Senior Citizen Property Tax Deferral. These credits and deferrals are subject to additional qualifications based on age, income, and tax burden.

  • Taxes on residential property will pay for approximately 47.7% of the investments for approved ballot questions. The remainder will be paid for by taxes on other property types, in addition to a modest amount of funding from state tax credits.

  • Yes. If any of the three ballot questions are approved, seasonal properties will be taxed based on their assessed market value. Taxes on seasonal properties are projected to pay for approximately 34.8% of approved ballot questions.

  • In 2024, the Minnesota legislature permanently increased the Taconite Homestead Credit for homeowners in the Iron Range and Northeastern Minnesota. Starting with taxes payable in 2025, the credit will increase from $289-315 per homeowner to as much as $515 per homeowner.

    The credit will decrease taxes for many properties in the school district and may offset part or all of the tax impact from the referendum, depending on the value of your home. However, specific impacts of the Taconite Homestead Credit on homeowners in Northeastern Minnesota are still being determined, and we will update this website with more information about the impact of the new legislation and the referendum soon.

  • All bond referendums for public schools are funded through local property tax increases, which affect residential homestead properties, commercial/industrial properties, seasonal/recreational properties, and all agricultural land (homestead and non-homestead). The tax impact was calculated with the help of our district’s financial advisor – PMA Securities – based upon the principal amount of the proposed bonds relative to the value of property in our school district. 

    To understand your estimated tax impact if the bond referendum is approved, a tax calculator is available at VikingsVision.org/tax-impact. For additional information about the specific tax impact breakdown, you can view our district’s Review & Comment, a formal document required by the Minnesota Department of Education for any bond referendum.

  • Yes. If voters approve all three ballot questions, the State of Minnesota’s Ag2School tax credit is projected to fund 4.7% of the total $36.78 million investment – about $1.7 million. The Ag2School Tax Credit is a 70% tax credit for school building bonds on all agricultural property except the house, garage, and one acre surrounding an agricultural homestead. It is a dollar-for-dollar credit with no application required. The Ag2School credit is already factored into projected tax impacts for individual residents. You can calculate your projected tax impact here.

  • Not necessarily. When considering year-to-year changes, individual tax impacts are determined by your property’s value relative to the net tax capacity of all taxable property in our school district. This means that your tax impact will only rise if your property’s value increases at a greater rate than the rest of the property in our district. However, if your property’s value rises at a slower rate than other property in our district, your tax impact would actually decrease for that year.

  • Our district is proud to provide education at an exceptional value for local taxpayers. Total school property taxes in our district are currently four times lower than the state average, and lower than other nearby districts such as Lake Superior, St. Louis County, Rock Ridge, Esko, Ely, Hermantown, and Chisholm (based on a home valued at $250,000).

  • Approximately 31,160 square feet of new space - including gymnasium, classroom, and shop space - would be added to our building if all three questions are approved. Our district estimates that this will increase operating costs by $30,400 annually. However, the referendum will also provide opportunities to help offset these increases by making our building more efficient. For example, planned LED lighting upgrades would save approximately $13,200 in utilities annually, and energy from new 40kW solar panels will further offset annual energy costs. Overall, we are confident that our district will be able to accommodate these additional costs with current staff and funding levels.

  • No. Funds from each question can only be used for the projects outlined by the language on the ballot. These funds must also remain separate from our district's general fund, so they can not be used to pay for general school operations. These rules help ensure that projects approved by voters are completed fully and according to the goals identified by our school community.

Questions About Voting

  • Election Day is Tuesday, November 5. The referendum questions will appear on the same ballot as the general election.

  • Yes! Early voting is available via absentee ballot or in person at the Cook County Auditor’s Office through Monday, November 4. Absentee ballots can be returned by mail or by hand to the Election’s Office at the Cook County Auditor’s Office. To learn more about early voting or how to request an absentee ballot, visit VikingsVision.org/vote.

  • Residents can vote at their respective polling locations between 7:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m. on Tuesday, November 5. You can find your polling location using the Secretary of State’s poll finder.

    Voters who live in mail ballot precincts will not be able to vote in person on Election Day. To see a complete list of mail ballot precincts visit the Voting page.

  • Yes. The referendum will appear on the same ballot as the general referendum. Registered voters in mail ballot precincts will be mailed a ballot to complete and return prior to Election Day. Voters in mail ballot precincts who are not registered to vote should request an absentee ballot.