area education

Governor Mark Dayton vetoed an education funding bill on Tuesday, saying it wasn't big enough and didn't include preschool funding for four-year-olds in the state. Locally, Sauk Rapids-Rice Superintendent Dan Bittman says he supports the idea of early education and preschool, but adds the district would run into space concerns if the state required it for four-year-olds.

Talahi students had a chance to get outside last week for some hands on learning by flying drones and planting trees around the school. Students helped with digging holes, watering and carrying the mulch for the trees. Sam Court is the STEM Integrationist at Talahi Community School, he says it was great to see students having fun with a hands-on experience.

The Sartell-St. Stephen School District is expected to see continued growth but at a slower pace for the next 10 years. The district has seen enrollment increase by 25.9 percent for the past 10 years and now has 3,759 students enrolled in its schools, compared to 2,985 in 2005-2006.

Attending online public school is a growing trend for students and families in St. Cloud. Around 100 students in the St. Cloud area are now enrolled in MTS Minnesota Connections Academy, an online school based in St. Paul. Students attend classes and interact with their classmates online. Work is done with teachers via email, live online lessons, text-based curriculum, webcasts and telephone conversations.

After teaching at St. Cloud Tech High School for the past 45 years, Robert Boatz says he gets mail almost every day from former students. Some of them in college may even reach out to him for help on a math problem. Boatz has taught nearly every math class at Tech High School and has taught calculus classes since the mid-90's.

The St. Cloud Area School District discussed the possibility of buying 185 acres of property in St. Augusta. The land is about one mile south of Interstate 94 and would cost $750,000 ($4,054 per acre). The property was originally considered as a possible location for a new Tech High School.

Hiring a bullying prevention specialist, reducing class sizes and more staffing are included in just over $1.6 million of proposed District 742 strategic plan spending for next year. The funds would represent a small portion of the projected $124.6 million budget for the district in the 2016 fiscal year. The bullying prevention specialist would focus on North and South Junior High Schools. The district says their highest levels of bullying happen at the middle schools.

The St. Cloud Area School District has approved the sale of the Colts Academy building to St. Joseph for $2.3 million. The building used to be the Kennedy Community School and is at 124 1st Avenue Southeast. St. Joseph wants the building for a possible community center.

Foley Public Schools will have a new superintendent leading the way next school year. Paul Neubauer will be taking Darrin Strosahl's place as superintendent. Strosahl has served six years in the position and will be going to the St. Cloud Technical and Community College as a Dean of Students.

St. Cloud State University and several area school districts are working together to create a collaborative center for partnership. The idea came from the Teacher Preparation Initiative, comprised of six partner school districts and St. Cloud State University. The program started in 2009 and has been funded through a ten-year $4.5 million grant by the Bush Foundation.