Schools

Despite Funding Request, Artificial Turf Unlikely for Apple Valley High School

This year, Apple Valley High School officials put in a $1.4 million request for artificial turf as part of the district's capital expenditures budgeting process, though they admit they understand it won't become a reality in the near future.

This month, Apple Valley High School put in a $1.4 million request for an artificial turf field at the school, as part of District 196’s 2012-2013 capital expenditure budget request process. The new playing turf is the single largest line item on the school's request list this year.

It's also at the bottom of that list of items, and for good reason, said school Athletic Director Pete Buesgens.

"We completely understand the economics of the time," Buesgens said; he said the school has kept the request on the list for many years, but "we know ... it’s not gonna happen."

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Buesgens' prediction seems likely. Last week Monday, the District 196 School Board reviewed more than $20 million in budget requests from schools across the district. While the board won't approve the final reading of the capital expenditures budget until April 30, the turf request didn't receive a recommendation from district staff that review them.

Despite that, Buesgens said that someday having an artificial turf field could provide advantages for extracurricular programs.

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“You’re not spending money on paint and fertilizer and ground repair,” he said.

It's also better for playing in tougher weather conditions, and could help the field handle more games, he said.

Among sports that would play on the field are football, soccer and lacrosse, which Buesgens said is becoming more popular and adds another set of games through which to maintain the grass.

"I like having grass, but if we had turf I know that soccer would come back to Apple Valley High School," Buesgens said. The school's soccer teams play at Johnny Cake Ridge Park.

But turf could also decrease the demand for use of the facility from other teams in the area, Buesgens said. Apple Valley has in the past paid to rent time on the artificial turf fields at Lakeville North and Burnsville high schools, such as when the boys soccer team was preparing for postseason play, he said.

Parents often ask—especially after traveling to other schools with turf—when Apple Valley will get a turf field, Buesgens said.

The district first discussed implementing artificial turf in the late 1990s, said District 196 spokesperson Tony Taschner, and the item has routinely shown up on budget request lists for the last five or six years.

Nor is Apple Valley the only district high school to make the request. Eagan High School also put in a $1.3 million artificial playing turf request this winter, according to a list of capital expenditure budget requests released last week.

Eastview High School didn't submit any capital expenditures requests this year; Principal Randall Peterson said in an email that the simple explanation is that the school is the newest of the district's high schools and that officials realize the district has a limited capital budget.

District officials encourage schools to submit their own budget priorities each winter, Taschner said, but the district has more projects than money, and eliminates all but the most financially feasible, high-priority projects.

For the 2012-2013 school year, for example, the district received more than $20 million in requests for curriculum materials, technology and facilities projects, but only had $10.5 million available.

“The fact that schools put it on a capital request list is more than anything else to keep it out there, to keep the desire for turf out there,” Taschner said.

District officials must also balance the cost of larger projects against community support for those projects.

“Five years ago, [artificial turf] was discussed more, and then when the economy turned, we dropped discussions, because we didn’t feel that it was right to look at turf when we have a lot of our residents facing tough times,” District 196 Director of Secondary Education Mark Parr said. “We still think that the community isn’t ready for this; obviously the economy hasn’t fully recovered and we’re trying to be sensitive to the needs of the community.”

Holding off on funding artificial turf is a move with which Buesgens ultimately agrees.

There are "many more important things" to fund at a time when staff jobs are on the line each year, he said.


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