In Tuesday’s local elections, Big Lake and Becker School’s referendums passed and Derek Nelson was elected to the Big Lake School Board.

Big Lake Referendum

The community of Big Lake made a historic decision to restore and renew the school’s current district facilities! The school bond referendum passed 1,011 to 776 (unofficial until canvassing). The passage of this $30 million bond referendum will allow Big Lake Schools to enact a plan to restore and renew the school facilities for future generations while maintaining fiscal responsibility for Big Lake taxpayers.

Big Lake School Board

Five candidates were vying for a seat on the Big Lake School Board and all did well in their bids. However, Derek Nelson prevailed with 557 votes.

Chelsey Hancock was second with 447  votes, Ashley Schabilion received 356 votes,  Connie Stegora received 161 votes and Alison Krueger received 135 votes. There were 16 write-ins.

“School Board members play a critical role in helping develop a vision for our district, make policy, set goals, and improve student achievement,” said Big Lake Supt. Tim Truebenbach. “I want to thank all of our candidates for volunteering their service to our community!”

“Thank you Big Lake Schools community for your engagement and participation in this special election!”

Becker’s Two Questions

Voters in the Becker School District approved both questions by an unofficial margin of 1,403 “yes” votes to 763 “no” votes for question one, and 1,199 “yes” votes to 966 “no” votes for question two.

Question one would improve safety and infrastructure, improve spaces for Career and Technical Education (CTE) and other educational spaces, provide more space for our students across all grade levels — including Early Childhood and School Readiness programming, and address other District-related needs including building a new transportation facility.

Question 2 would provide more space to serve our Early Childhood’s Camp Opportunity program, renovate the existing vehicle maintenance area to serve as a multi-purpose space, make other District-related improvements including FFE, athletics lighting, and install synthetic turf on the multi-purpose field. 

Question two was contingent on the successful passage of question one.

The school stated on their Facebook page they were appreciative to everyone that voted and made their voice heard and gave a huge shout out to everyone involved in the long-range planning process. 

“This is a great opportunity for our students, our staff, and our communities. Stay tuned for more information as we move into design,” the Facebook page said.

This past May, district voters rejected a bond referendum by only 11 votes (601: yes | 612: no). With just over 1200 votes total, this was one of the lowest voter turn-outs in the district.