Family March 2026 Knight Line

At STMA, we are stronger together. Open dialogue and understanding are essential to our success, and we believe that every stakeholder deserves to be heard.

Superintendent Foucault invites you to a Listening Session, an opportunity to share your insights, experiences, and suggestions in a meaningful conversation.

Why Are Listening Sessions Important?

🔹 Enhanced Collaboration: Engaging with diverse perspectives helps us find innovative solutions and address challenges together.
🔹 Empowering Stakeholders: Your ideas and feedback play a crucial role in shaping the future of our district—your voice matters!
🔹 Building Trust: Active listening fosters trust and strengthens relationships across our school community.

Mark Your Calendar & Join the Conversation!
📍 Monday, May 11 | 9:00-10:00 a.m. | District Office Boardroom (Enter via Door A at Middle School West)

📍 Wednesday, May 13 | 6:00-7:00 p.m. | District Office Boardroom (Enter via Door A at Middle School West)

We value your input and look forward to hearing from you!

STMA staff, families, and community members are invited to join us on Thursday, May 14 for a School Board Community Listening Session. This is an opportunity to share your thoughts, ask questions, and provide feedback—because your voice matters.

The session will take place from 6:00–7:00 p.m. in the boardroom at STMA Middle School West (please enter through Door N).

We value strong partnerships with our community and look forward to hearing from you.

The 2026 Minnesota legislative session began on February 17 and will conclude on May 18. We are now at the midpoint of the session, which is the second year of the biennium—commonly referred to as a policy year. Unlike the first year, which focuses on setting the state budget, policy years typically include limited new funding for school districts.

Recently, Minnesota Management and Budget released the February State Budget and Economic Forecast, and there is some encouraging news. The state is projecting a $3.7 billion surplus for the 2026–2027 biennium—an increase of $1.3 billion over previous estimates. However, the longer-term outlook remains more cautious. The projected balance for 2028–2029 is just $377 million, signaling ongoing financial challenges. In addition, state leaders have noted uncertainty within the February forecast due to missing federal data related to recent government shutdowns.

At the same time, Governor Walz released his supplemental budget recommendations, which are deeply concerning for school districts. The proposal includes no additional funding for schools and increases the previously discussed $250 million reduction to special education funding in the 2028–2029 biennium to $300 million, placing additional pressure on already strained district budgets.

Given this context and the Governor’s proposed reductions to education funding, advocacy remains critical. We will continue working closely with legislators to ensure the needs of our students, staff, and schools are clearly understood and prioritized.

We are excited to share continued progress on our bond projects as we move from planning into the next phases of design and implementation. Over the past several weeks, we have hosted multiple Vision Labs that brought together a wide range of stakeholders, including staff, parents, our architect partners at ISG, construction managers from Kraus-Anderson, and our financial advisors at Ehlers.

These collaborative sessions are a critical part of our process—ensuring that the voices of those who use our spaces every day help shape thoughtful, functional, and future-focused learning environments. Thank you to all who have participated and shared valuable feedback through your professional and personal perspectives.

To maximize taxpayer dollars and take advantage of economies of scale, the majority of high school projects are scheduled to begin in 2027, with completion anticipated in 2028. This strategic approach allows us to bundle projects efficiently while minimizing disruption to student learning.

In the meantime, we are hoping to start several projects in the next few months, including:

• Boardroom recording upgrades

• Classroom board and audio replacements

• Baseball and softball field improvements

• Elementary playground surfaces

• Elementary fire panels

• Technology upgrades, including infrastructure, security cameras, and phone system updates

We encourage all staff and families to stay informed and engaged throughout this process. A draft project timeline is available here, and ongoing updates can be found on the STMA Bond Project webpage.

Our planning for the 2026–2027 school year is grounded in one priority: ensuring our staffing and resources have the greatest impact on student learning.

We want to express our sincere gratitude to our community for the recent voter-approved operating levy. As we shared throughout the levy campaign, this additional funding is just enough to maintain our current programming and class sizes—it does not expand programming, but it allows us to preserve what makes STMA strong.

Even within these constraints, our focus remains clear: putting students first while honoring our commitments to our community.

Recently, the school board reviewed and approved a staffing plan that reflects this commitment. The plan, developed through extensive collaboration with our administrative team, restructures and realigns staff in a way that is budget-neutral while maintaining high-quality programming and supporting student needs.

This work also incorporates the state’s basic formula inflationary increase of 0.69% (approximately $377,000), which we have strategically invested to have the greatest impact on our children.

Key highlights of the plan include:

• Adjusting staffing levels to respond to high class sizes
  

• Supporting students receiving special education
  

• Realigning administrative and operational structures to better support growing programs, including STMA Online

While some shifts are necessary, this plan ensures we are:

• Maintaining class sizes
  

• Preserving programming
  

• Staying true to what we promised our voters
  
  

Please see the staffing memo in the School Board Meeting Recap section for additional information.

We remain committed to thoughtful stewardship of resources and to making decisions that best support our children, staff, and community—now and into the future.