Thursday, December 20, 2012
Directors voted unanimously to keep Parkwood Knolls and Walnut Drive properties in the district.
UPDATED 10:05 p.m. Dec. 20 -- Parkwood Knolls and Walnut Drive property owners—organized as advocacy group Unite Edina 273—asked to leave the Hopkins school district for Edina schools because they think Hopkins schools are not in locations that serve the families’ educational needs. However, School Board directors voted unanimously that it’s in the district’s best interest for the neighborhoods to remain in the Hopkins school district. The decision was made in part because of the financial ramifications to the district and other taxpayers. A Nov. 29 study that concluded that detachment would cost Hopkins more than $550,000 in lost revenue, inch up taxes on remaining Hopkins property owners and cause taxes on the transferring properties to …
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Hopkins Public Schools Independent School District 270
1001 Highway 7, Hopkins, MN
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Wednesday, December 19, 2012
The homes in the detachment area are more valuable than elsewhere in the district—or the typical Edina neighborhood. Check out the numbers for yourself and share your thoughts on how much it matters.
About one out of four homes in the portion of Edina that wants to leave the Hopkins School District is worth $1 million or more—making the area much wealthier than the typical neighborhood in the school district or Edina as a whole. That information comes from school district data put together in advance of a Thursday School Board vote on whether to support a detachment request from Parkwood Knolls and Walnut Drive property owners. The demographics paint a picture of wealthy neighborhoods where even the vacant lots are worth more than the median home value in Edina and most of the Hopkins school district. Parcels with homes have a median value 77 percent greater than the city median. The role of money and wealth has been a particularly …
Tuesday, December 18, 2012
A look at how Hopkins’ boundaries came about may add context to a debate over whether some Edina residents should be able to leave the district.
Even though districts are typically named after one of the cities they serve, they are separate entities, legally distinct from those cities. Hopkins Public Schools covers all of Hopkins, most of Minnetonka, half of Golden Valley and parts of Eden Prairie, Edina, Plymouth and St. Louis Park. Those boundaries reflect numerous votes and agreements between school districts and residents in the past. This week, the Hopkins School Board will examine the latest in a long line of boundary change requests. A group of Edina residents in the Parkwood Knolls and Walnut Drive neighborhoods wants to leave Hopkins because they think its schools are not in locations that serve the families’ educational needs. In preparation for the School Board’s vote …
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Hopkins Public Schools Independent School District 270
1001 Highway 7, Hopkins, MN
/articles/why-does-the-hopkins-school-district-cover-so-many-cities
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/locations/8409259
Monday, December 17, 2012
The Hopkins School Board will decide whether to support the request Thursday.
Edina residents who live in Hopkins school district boundaries only have to wait a few more days to find out whether the School Board will support their request to leave for the Edina school district. The Hopkins School Board will vote Thursday on a request from Parkwood Knolls and Walnut Drive property owners who want to leave the Hopkins school district because they think its schools are not in locations that serve the families’ educational needs. School district administrators will first report on their findings and present analysis from a Nov. 29 study that concluded that detachment would cost Hopkins more than $550,000 in lost revenue. After the presentation, School Board directors will vote on the detachment request. Click the PDFs …
44.933188
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Hopkins Public Schools Independent School District 270
1001 Highway 7, Hopkins, MN
/articles/hopkins-prepares-to-vote-on-unite-edina-detachment-request
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Thursday, November 29, 2012
Hopkins property owners would see school taxes grow by about 1.5 percent, while Edina school tax bills would drop by about 2 percent.
A proposal to carve off a piece of Edina from the Hopkins school district would cost Hopkins more than $550,000 in lost revenue, increase property taxes for those who remain in the district and jack up taxes for those whose properties change districts, according to a report released Thursday. Click on the PDFs to the right of this article to read the full report. The district requested the report in order to determine the financial ramifications of a request from Parkwood Knolls and Walnut Drive property owners who want to leave the Hopkins school district because they think its schools are not in locations that serve the families’ educational needs. The district has never had a school in Edina in its 130 years. Even though districts are …
Wednesday, October 24, 2012
Edina property owners who want to leave the Hopkins school district say detachment would only have a modest impact on the district.
Edina property owners who want to leave the Hopkins school district say Hopkins is better off than the district they want to join and that their departure would have minimal impact on Hopkins’ finances. Unite Edina 273 representatives made the arguments during a Wednesday morning meeting with Hopkins’ Citizens Financial Advisory Committee (CFAC) in which committee members also questioned the group’s motivations and how it’s funded. Unite Edina is made up of Parkwood Knolls and Walnut Drive property owners who say they want to leave the Hopkins school district because its schools are not in locations that serve the families’ educational needs. They say their request is about neighborhood schools and sense of community—not money. “When …
Friday, May 4, 2012
About 400 families in the Parkwood Knolls neighborhood want to leave Hopkins Public Schools for the Edina school district.
Edina residents who live in within Hopkins Public Schools boundaries have begun making the case directly to local school boards about why their neighborhood should be transferred to the Edina school district. At Thursday’s Hopkins School Board meeting, spokesmen from Unite Edina 273—which represents 400 families in the Parkwood Knolls neighborhood—asked the district to start working toward “a mutually agreeable solution” that would allow the neighborhood to change districts. The group plans to address the Edina School Board May 21. “School district boundaries should be about education, families and community, and not merely the possession of property taxes,” Unite Edina 273 Chairman Alan Koehler. The group asked the board to: Parkwood …
Monday, April 2, 2012
The bill would allow neighborhoods to petition to leave the district without their current school district’s consent.
The Hopkins school district is fighting a bill that would allow neighborhoods to petition to leave the district without the school board’s consent. The bill paves the way for areas like the portion of Edina in Hopkins Public Schools boundaries to start the process toward withdrawing from the district—taking students in those neighborhoods out of the district, along with the money that follows them. Hopkins’ Legislative Action Coalition, which helps the School Board advocate for education-related legislation, estimates Hopkins Public Schools would lose at least $250,000 of referendum potential if the district’s portion of Edina went to Edina Public Schools. It would lose an additional $100,000 due to other students in that area becoming …
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Hopkins Public Schools Independent School District 270
1001 Highway 7, Hopkins, MN
/articles/hopkins-school-district-opposes-bill-to-make-boundary-changes-easier
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/locations/6713312
Amy M.
12:12 pm on Tuesday, January 8, 2013
Hi James, In response to your comment, (below): When I plug-in the addresses to Mapquest, I get different distance #'s than you referenced in the earlier article. For example, when Mapquest calculates the driving distance from the intersection of Vernon Ave. & Walnut Dr. to Edina HS (6754 Valley View Rd.), I get a distance of 1.86 miles. Your article stated the distance was 2.36 miles. … more ›