Board approves multiple 2026 budgets and $43,288 change order for waterproofing prep

The Winona Area Public School District Board of Education on May 1 approved several 2026 budget items and authorized a construction change order to complete waterproofing prep work at Jefferson Elementary.

The board voted to approve the 2026 school nutrition budget, the 2026 community education budget, the 2026 student activity budget and the district's agency fund budget (Fund 18). The board also approved the minutes of the April 17, 2025 meeting and the schedule of remaining regular and special board meetings for 2025. In a separate motion the board approved a change order of $43,288.49 to allow surface demo and concrete work at Jefferson that will allow scheduled waterproofing to proceed in June.

Board members discussed the budgets briefly before voting. The school nutrition budget approval followed an informational briefing about a separate 2025 school nutrition budget adjustment that would fund a used van for summer meal delivery; that adjustment will return to the board for formal action at a later meeting. The community education action included a brief staff follow-up on 2023 capital expenditures tied to the Herky bus and ESSER funding. The student activity and agency fund approvals were presented as routine action items; staff explained that Fund 18 acts as a flow-through for Winona County collaborative programs and therefore carries no long-term fund balance.

On the change order, district staff described two years of geothermal HVAC renovation work at WK and Jefferson and said the Jefferson playground-side inlet above the former coal room requires demolition, resurfacing with concrete, then waterproofing. Superintendent Brzezinski told the board Jefferson’s existing surface was not suitable for the coating and that current moisture evidence in both basements made the work important to protect the geothermal equipment. The vendor named in the agenda packet for the demo/prep work was listed as "follower and hammer" in meeting documents; the board approved the $43,288.49 change order to allow the waterproofing scheduled for mid-June.

Votes and procedure: motions to approve each budget and to approve the change order were made, seconded, and passed with the board voice vote recorded as "aye" during the meeting. The meeting record did not contain a roll-call tally in the public discussion for these items.

What the board asked staff to do next: staff said the finance committee will continue to see related change orders and smaller approved expenditures on a monthly basis. For the change order staff said the waterproofing task will be completed in mid-June after the required surface work at Jefferson is finished.

The approvals keep multiple 2026 budget components on schedule for formal adoption and maintain progress on the district’s ongoing capital work.

Ending: The district will show the finalized change-order invoice and an updated project contingency balance to the finance committee and include the 2025 nutrition vehicle budget adjustment as an action item at a subsequent board meeting.