TYLER — It’s a great building — but only two years after it was finished, the Russell-Tyler-Ruthton School is already crowded, said RTR Superintendent David Marlette.

“We didn’t know we were going to get this influx of students,” Marlette said.

At the time the school was built, district enrollment was around 600 students, he said. Now RTR has close to the 700 students the school was designed for.

It’s a big reason the RTR district is taking a $15 million building bond referendum to the public next week, Marlette said.

On Nov. 7, the RTR School District will be holding a special election on a proposed addition to the school building in Tyler. The special election ballot will have a single “yes” or “no” question, asking whether to authorize RTR to issue $15 million in school building bonds to construct 16 new classrooms, a gymnasium addition and a fitness room addition.

The building referendum would address several different needs at RTR’s preK-12 school building, Marlette said. The school was completed in 2021, after RTR voters passed a $35 million building bond. After the bond referendum, the school district also issued about $3.6 million in bonds and used $575,000 in general fund dollars to finance a new sports complex at the school site.

Just two years after construction, RTR’s enrollment is already close to the building’s maximum capacity of 700 students. According to data RTR provided to voters, the district’s total enrollment in preK through 12th grade this year is 695 students. Enrollment projections are over 700 students starting in the 2024-25 school year.

“We have some middle school classes where we have over 30 kids in a class,” Marlette said.

Open enrollment data for the 2022-2023 school year showed that a total of 127 students from other school districts enrolled in RTR, and a total of 100 students from the RTR district enrolled in other area schools. That meant RTR had a net gain of 28 students from other school districts last year. Marlette said the RTR school board didn’t want to turn away students, especially kids from area communities.

“That would be the worst thing we could ever do,” he said.

Marlette said members of the public had asked him why the original RTR school building hadn’t been built to help accommodate the current enrollment growth.

When RTR was looking at building a combined school, school board members had to consider how big of a construction project voters would be willing to approve, Marlette said. If RTR had proposed a larger school building in 2019, he said, “The board did not feel we would’ve passed that original building question.”

Marlette said the lack of space also puts limits on the amount of elective classes and other education that RTR can provide for students. Building additional classrooms would allow RTR to offer more STEM and careers-related classes, as well as special education.

Building additional classrooms would also provide space for RTR to open a day care center. There could be grant opportunities to support the district in offering child care services, Marlette said.

“The number of day care spots in Lincoln County is very low,” he said.

The proposed building project would add a total of 16 new classrooms to RTR School. The classrooms would be built in a pair of two-story additions, located at the ends of the school’s two classroom wings. The design for the addition would put a total of eight new classrooms on the school’s main level, and eight on the upper level.

The proposed building expansion would also construct an additional gymnasium, which would be built to serve as a storm shelter; and a larger fitness and weight room area. The current RTR weight room would be remodeled into space for the high school office.

Estimated total costs for the building additions come to more than $15.65 million, according to the Minnesota Department of Education’s review and comment of the project.

The proposed building bonds would be paid off over 20 years, Marlette said. According to materials provided to voters, the current RTR building bond would be paid off by 2040, while the proposed new building bond would be paid off by 2044.

If the referendum is passed, it will mean a property tax increase for the RTR district, Marlette said. Materials provided to voters said the annual tax impact for a residence valued at $175,000 would be $122 a year. A $250,000 home would see an increase of $187 a year.

A commercial or industrial property valued at $250,000 would see a property tax increase of $338 a year. An agricultural homestead valued at $9,000 an acre would see a tax increase of $0.69 per acre a year. Non-homestead ag land valued at $9,000 an acre would see an increase of $1.37 per acre a year.

In the lead-up to Tuesday’s vote, RTR has held two different public informational meetings. Marlette said he hoped voters in the school district would come out to participate in the referendum.

“The message we want to send is, please come out and vote,” Marlette said.

Absentee voting for the RTR referendum began Sept. 22, and will be open until 4 p.m. on Monday. Absentee ballot applications can be obtained at the RTR district office, or at the RTR School website at www.rtrschools.org/Page/1425. Voters need to return completed absentee ballot applications to the district office during regular office hours, or by mail.

Voters should plan ahead and allow extra time if they return their applications and absentee ballots by mail. Ballots received after Election Day cannot be accepted.

In-person voting on the referendum will take place from 4-8 p.m. Tuesday.

The polling place for the cities of Russell and Arco, and for Island Lake, Coon Creek, Lyons, Sodus, Ash Lake, Lake Stay, Diamond Lake, Marshfield and Lake Benton townships, will be at the Russell Community Center in Russell.

The polling place for the city of Tyler will be at the A.C. Hanson Legion Post, at 138 East Bradley Street in Tyler.

The polling place for the cities of Ruthton and Florence, and for Aetna, Grange, Rock, Fountain Prairie, Shelburne, Rock Lake, Hope, Cameron and Ellsborough townships, will be at the Ruthton Community Center in Ruthton.