RIVER FALLS — The River Falls School Board heard and approved the 10-year summer capital maintenance cost plan, including a variety of indoor and outdoor projects throughout the district during the Monday meeting.

No large projects will take place this summer as the buildings are still settling in from the referendum work. The district is planning to set aside $650,000 for use in future years’ projects during the calm summer.

In 2026-27, the district is planning $825,000 in expenses for inclusive playgrounds, outdoor shed repairs and security film. The following year, $815,000 is budgeted for a seclusion/restraint room, a Kids Club storage shed, a voting entrance to the LMC and parent drop-off/pick-up reconfiguration at the high school.

While not a part of the 10-year plan, the board discussed adding an additional parking lot to replace a portion of the grass fields south of the school building to create additional space for larger events.

“One of the things we’ve identified is we’re kind of short on parking for big events and for those kinds of things at school. We have kids parking out in the street,” Treasurer Mike Miller said. “One of the benefits of having that turf field we have, which gets a heck of a lot of use, is we don’t have as many needs for the grass fields in the back. So, we’re thinking of potentially taking a grass field and turning it into a parking lot.”

Miller said there are also congestion issues during pick-up and drop-off with buses, cars and students walking, and that would be looked at during the project.

In 2028-29, $300,000 in Meyer Middle School window replacements is paired with $218,000 for high school Energy Recovery Units coil orientation correction. Another $832,000 is planned at the high school the next summer for the same item. During the 2030-31 summer, $335,000 is included for Meyer Middle School locker replacement and $850,000 is planned for track and turf replacement at the high school.

In 2031-32, $750,000 is planned to convert the wood shop, metals and ag rooms from air handling units to rooftop units. Pool piping and valve replacements, a pool chemical injection and district-wide roof membrane replacements are expected to total $869,000 in 2032-33. The high school will see a $650,000 greenhouse replacement in 2033-34 and $350,000 in library furniture replacement in 2034-35.

The board also approved the purchase of two route buses for $149,623 each. The purchase was included by the school board during the budgeting process.

Health Insurance Plan

The board approved HealthPartners as the health insurance provider for the 2026-27 school year. Board President Stacy Johnson Myers said the board delegates the research responsibility to the administration, with the request for a reasoned recommendation back to the board. To accomplish that, the administration has employed an insurance broker and established an insurance study committee made up of staff that will be using the insurance to provide feedback.

“When we have big decisions to make that are going to influence our stakeholders, we want to give them as much voice and opportunity to be participants and provide input in processes that impact them,” Director of Human Resources and Leadership Development Nate Schurman said. “We knew that we were running toward the end of our two-year plan with HealthPartners in a fully funded insurance plan that was coming to the close at the end of the year… to start that process, you go out to bid.”

Schurman said they went to Medica, Alina Health, Anthem Blue Cross, HealthPartners and United Health, with three of five declining to bid, leaving United Health and HealthPartners.

“The bids came back very, very high. When that happens, then you engage in the negotiation process, and there’s some back-and-forth to try and get those bids down to a number that fits within our budget while also maintaining a high performing benefit,” Schurman said.

Both bidders would only bid for one year rather than the default two years, with HealthPartners taking the win due to offering both fully and self-funded options, compared to United only offering the fully funded option. The plan comes at about a 10% increase, which Schurman said is comparable to recent deals.
“Deductibles were staying the same, the max out of pocket would change, the contributions to the premiums would stay the same, the HSA would stay the same and, of course, there’s an increase to the overall cost. We knew that [overall cost increase] was coming,” Schurman said.

Schurman said the study committee was pleased with the outcome given the current insurance landscape and the board approved the self-funded model, meaning instead of the district paying premiums, it pays employee claims.

Other business

• Gave a Wildcat Pride award to Nate Johnston for volunteering time to support students at Greenwood Elementary.
• Approved a CESA 11 Shared Services Contract for various district services including consulting, audiology and vision impaired programs and administration program services for 2026-27. The contract is routine, coming to the board annually.
• Approved transportation program assistant, activities paraprofessional, activities secretary, middle school attendance secretary and middle school secretary job descriptions.
• Miller updated state special education reimbursement, which is coming in around 35%, below the state’s 42% expectation. Miller said the state may play some catch up in the final payments as the numbers start to finalize.