SCHOOL CONSOLIDATION
The school boards of District No. 2904 (Tracy Area High School) and District No. 635 (Milroy Public School) both voted unanimously to approve resolutions to consolidate at their respective school board meetings Monday.
Students in the Milroy School District will attend school this fall in Milroy for the last time, and the two schools will merge for the 2026-2027 school year.
“This is it,” Tracy Area Public School Supt. Chad Anderson said at Monday’s board meeting after going through the resolution with the board point by point. “This is moving forward with the consolidation. Milroy approved the exact resolution tonight at their meeting.”
The consolidation was all but a forgone conclusion prior to this week, as both groups were on board with the move. The resolution bullet points Anderson went over with the board included the name and ID number of the consolidated district, which will remain No. 2904 moving forward.
The district will keep its debt; referendum revenue authorizations previous approved the Tracy and Milroy voters and renewed by authorization of each school board will be combined and continued as provided in Minnesota Statutes, Section 123A.73, subdivision 4 or 5.
The referendum revenue authorization for the consolidated school district shall be the revenue per adjusted pupil unit that would raise an amount equal to the combined dollar amount of the referendum revenues authorized by each of the component school districts for the year preceding the consolidation, unless the referendum revenue authorization of the consolidated school district is subsequently modified pursuant to Minnesota Statutes, Section 126C.17, subdivision 9. The referendum revenue authorization for the consolidated school district shall continue for a period of time equal to the longest period authorized in Tracy or Milroy.
All of the assets, real and personal, of Tracy and Milroy, and all legally valid and enforceable claims and contract obligations of both school districts shall, effective July 1, 2026, pass to the consolidated school district, except with respect to employment contracts concerning employees of Tracy and Milroy.
Tracy has outstanding general obligation bonds, and Milroy has one outstanding bond in the aggregate principal amount of less than $150,000. Milroy intends to redeem and prepay its bond prior to July 1, 2026.
Any bonded debt existing on July 1, 2026, will remain the sole obligation of the taxable property located in each respective school district until the debt matures or until such bonds are optionally redeemed and prepaid. A tax levy (according to value) may be imposed on all taxable property of the consolidated school district for the payment of principal and interest any new bonded debt the consolidated school district may incur after July 1, 2026.
While the vote was unanimous, a lengthy discussion took place concerning the school building in Milroy. Board members in Tracy expressed some concern about the issue, as they are relying on good faith that the project — either tearing down the building or selling it — will get done.
The resolution passed Monday does not include any language concerning the removal of the building.
“I think a lot of this is on good faith,” Anderson said when asked about the issue by board Chair Rod Benson. “They have funds in their general fund, and what I’ve been told is … based upon the preliminary numbers, they feel they would have the money to raze the building. That’s their intent. That’s what we’ve talked about all along. If they didn’t do that, it would be quite a change in what we’ve talked about the entire time.”
The Tracy School District has no interest in the building and has no intentions of taking on the financial responsibility of razing it.
“I’m not questioning anybody’s integrity at all; Tracy just spent $27 million, and I’d hate to go back to our taxpayers saying we have to pony up another million dollars to help us tear this thing down,” Benson said. “I don’t want to be there with our taxpayers.”
Anderson called the failure of Milroy’s plan to raze the building a worst-case scenario that he believes won’t come to fruition. The Milroy School District will let bids later this year.
Any fund balances Milroy would have left over would roll into the new district’s general fund. The contents of the building belong to Milroy until July 1, 2026. The value of the contents is unknown at this time.
The new school board will consist of 10 members — seven from Tracy and three from Milroy, for the first six months of consolidation. The consolidated district will hold a general election on Nov. 3, 2026, to elect four at-large board members to four-year terms.
On Jan. 1, 2027, the terms of three board members from both schools will expire, and the four newly-elected In other business Monday …
• The board approved added Lexi Erickson as a longterm sub from Aug. 26-Dec. 23, 2025 and approved Kari Fransen as the student council advisor for the upcoming school year.
• The board approved paying Advanced Health Safety and Security 2,800 a year for the next three years for health, environmental and safety services.
• A bus route will be added back to the rotation in place of a van that covers the Milroy area for about the same cost. Ten buses will be able to cover every student after consolidation.
• New TAHS Principal Mandy Dibble proposed a slightly different Ramp Up schedule, and the board approved the change.
• TAPS will provide lunch for St. Mary’s students this upcoming school year. TAPS was asked by the school to provide the service since they won’t have a cook on staff this year. TAPS will charge around $4.65 per meal, and SMS would reimburse TAPS with the government funding for meals it receives from the State. TAPS proposed a $50 per day fee on top of that for the extra time and effort to package and transport the meals to the 54 SMS students.
• The board accepted the following donations: a $20 anonymous donation for a TAHS scholarship; $1,000 from the Currie Town & County Boosters for upgrades at the softball complex; $250 from the Tracy Lions Club for clothing for kids; and $12,000 from the Panther Booster Club for the softball complex.
