Henning School Board hears about ammendment to state constitution
News | Published on August 28, 2026 at 1:02pm EDT | Author: Chad Koenen
0School district also seeking new referendum
By Chad Koenen
Publisher
Henning School District voters will have a pair of questions on the November ballot that could provide additional funding for the Henning School District, while not increasing taxes at a local level.
During its regularly scheduled meeting last week, the Henning School Board heard a report from school superintendent Melissa Sparks about not only the Seasonal Recreation Tax Base Replacement Aid referendum the Henning School District is seeking, but the proposed constitutional amendment on Minnesota’s permanent school fund.
The permanent school fund was established in 1858 and uses school trust lands, granted to the state, to provide funding for every public, charter and tribal schools in the state. While the fund’s total balance has ballooned from $675 million in 2010 to $2.3 billion in 2025, the distribution formula has remained unchanged since its inception. Currently each school district receives about $468 per pupil, but the proposed amendment would change the distribution method to include total market value, increasing the annual distribution rate from 2.5 percent to 4.5 percent.
The increase in the funding would account for $101 per pupil without introducing new taxes or raising existing income or property taxes.
A question to change the formula will be on the November ballot as a Constitutional amendment, but Sparks cautioned the board that not voting on the amendment would count as a no vote on the ballot.
The other question on the ballot revolves around the Henning School District seeking to replace its current voter-approved operating levy with a new Seasonal Recreation Tax Base Replacement Aid levy. The new levy is designed to bring property tax relief to school districts, like the Henning School District, with high concentrations of seasonal recreation lake homes and cabins.
Since state law exempts seasonal properties from local voter-approved operating referendums, the tax burden of these referendums historically fell on year-round residents. The new state tax base replacement aid offsets the disparity by replacing 42.33 percent of the voter-approved referendum with state aid, instead of local property taxes.
Ultimately, the state funding allows school districts like Henning to receive 100 percent of voter-approved revenues to be used in the classroom and could result in additional state revenues that were essentially benefiting the St. Paul and the metro area, as opposed to the school district where the revenue was collected.
The levy the Henning School District is hoping to get support of in November would provide as much an additional $350,000 in funding with no additional taxes being collected locally. The funding will help Henning School navigate swings in enrollment and benefit local taxpayers since they would not need to front the entirety of an operating referendum anymore.
If a majority of the voters do not approve replacing the current operating levy with the new seasonal recreation tax base replacement aid referendum in November the current operating levy will continue at Henning School with no additional funding for the school district.
In other news
• Accepted the resignation of Julie Westrick as social studies teacher.
• Approved the hiring of Carter Watnaas as social studies teacher and Jordyn Blaeser as paraprofessional.
• Approved the addition of five vacation days to Brendan Hart’s 2026-28 notice of assignment.
• Acknowledged the activities report that stated the school district did not fill the fifth volleyball coach position due to slightly lower numbers overall. The program will have two junior high coaches and two coaches for C, JV and varsity levels. The Park Region Conference and area schools have transitioned to a new activities website called Bound and can be located at https://gobound.com/mn/schools/henning.
• Heard the principal’s report that welcomed new teachers Bill Klaers as agriculture teacher, Carter Watnassa a social studies teacher, Jordyn Blaeser as paraprofessional and are currently searching for a part-time paraprofessional for preschool.
• Heard the superintendent report that highlighted the summer enrollment projections. The enrollment projection shows 344 students in grades K-12, which is down slightly from 2026, which had an enrollment of 355 students. The decrease was due to a smaller projected incoming kindergarten class compared to a larger graduating class. Sparks highlighted the growing preschool enrollment numbers that are currently projected at 51 students, compared to just 42 at the end of the past school year.
• Approved setting the annual Truth in Taxation meeting for December 15 at 6 p.m.