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Legislative Activities

2024 Legislature

This year's legislative session will be a busy one for Minnesota State Academies, as there are several proposals that affect us. Below is a list of current bonding requests and budget proposals that have been shared with the Governor's Office as well as the House and Senate Committees for feedback.  We also need your support! Contact your local representatives/senators to let them know you support our bills and budget/bonding requests.

Find your local representative here 

2024 Bonding Requests

MSAB Library Design/Renovation: $4.5 million

  • This project will allow us to design and renovate the MSAB Library building, which was recently vacated by the Minnesota Department of Education (Minnesota Talking Book and Braille Library).
  • Funds will remedy asbestos and upgrade aging/failing systems in the building, as well as designing and implementing upgrades to make the building accessible and functional for our students' use. This includes adding a new boiler/mechanical room to serve the heating and cooling needs of the entire campus and demolition of another building (Industrial Building) after the functions of this aging building are transferred into the renovated library building.
  • In addition, we are seeking to build a connection between the library and the main instructional building to enhance/ensure the safety and security for our students, staff, and visitors, which is critical as we are located adjacent to the Faribault Correctional Facility.

Additional information: This will allow us to maximize the use of the building, ensure safety and accessibility, increase energy efficiency, reduce maintenance needs, and remedy any potential dangerous materials in the building. By moving classes, services, and other functions from another aging building, we will be able to better serve our needs as well as reduce our maintenance, energy, upkeep, and staffing needs. This will support our current and long-term budget and staffing concerns. 

Student Center Pre-Design Funds: $300,000

  • This project will allow us to hire architects to evaluate our needs and recommend an energy-efficient/low maintenance building that is fully accessible and code compliant, potentially replacing up to 5 aging, high-maintenance buildings and outdated, inaccessible facilities. 
  • This center will incorporate our athletic/PE facilities; cafeteria; career/technical education; and other needs on our MSAD campus.
  • This has a potential for great savings in staffing, energy costs, maintenance needs, and worker compensation costs.
  • This will help us examine our needs and propose a project that can potentially have great savings for us and set us up for the next 25 years. The buildings that we are evaluating are 75-100 years old and requires a lot of upkeep, maintenance, and have high energy costs, and they have drained funds from our Asset Preservation and General Funds, so we believe replacement is a more cost-effective approach.

Additional information: This project is especially important as our current buildings are not fully accessible, do not meet current standards/codes, and are largely inefficient. Our current buildings' limitations have a negative effect on the ability to provide appropriate educational programs for our students, both in and out of the classroom. We have an increasing number of students (and staff) with physical limitations that require a more accessible and user-friendly building. This also aligns with MSA's strategic planning goals and policies. 

Therapy Pool Replacement Pre-Design: $300,000

  • MSA has spent considerable time and funds attempting to maintain and use the 50 year old therapy pool and therapeutic hot tub, which is currently minimally accessible and difficult for our students to enter or exit
  • The predesign work will allow us to evaluate and design a replacement for our current pool and therapy spa, including related site improvements that will allow us to use the spaces better within our MSAB educational building. This project will include building an addition to our MSAB instructional building to house a new pool/hot tub that is appropriately designed for our students' physical therapy needs, with the goal of improving the existing spaces for other academic needs. This has a potential for great savings in staffing, energy costs, maintenance needs, and workers compensation costs.
  • This will also help expand our academic, transition, and performing arts courses for our students into the current pool area to meet our school's mission and goals. 

Additional Information: This project is especially important as our current pool/spa are not fully accessible, do not meet current standards/codes, and are largely inefficient. Our current pool/spa limitation have a negative effect on the ability to provide appropriate educational programs for our students, especially with the limited accessibility and frequent repairs that are required. We have an increasing number of students with physical limitations that require physical exercise and therapy in our pool/spa. We need a fully accessible environment for our students, many of whom have numerous physical challenges requiring the use of assistive technology. 

Asset Preservation Funds: $3 million

  • We have requested and received Asset Preservation funds over the past few years. We have made progress in reducing the number of projects that are needed on our campuses, but due to the age and design of many of our buildings, continued funding and work is required.
  • This will allow us to continue maintenance, upkeep, and improvements to our buildings and facilities on both campuses to ensure safety, security, accessibility, and long-term maintenance so that our programs can continue to operate. 
  • Current priorities include (but are not limited to): preservation of exterior stone facades; replacement/correction of deteriorated walks and drives; roof repair/replacement; safety upgrades to doors and windows; and replacement/correction of deteriorated walkways/roadways.
  • Asset Preservation projects are prioritized based on life/safety, accessibility, program needs, and efficiency of our buildings. As we complete projects, we see savings in different areas (less maintenance needs, less workers compensation costs, more safety and accessibility, increased productivity and so forth). 

Additional information: Most of our buildings on both campuses were built in pre-ADA times which means we are continually assessing, repairing, and updating different aspects of our campuses to meet the current needs of our students. We also have invested time, money, and energy to increase the security and safety of our buildings to support our students/families' needs. It is our goal to maintain state facilities and operate our educational programs within state expectations, federal regulations, and all other expectations, statutes, and guidelines.