If there are roughly 1,700 families in Victoria today, then there are roughly 3,000 kids in Victoria today.  Says Gina Holman, three-year resident at Allegheny Grove, "I bet there are 300 kids in our neighborhood alone!"
Gina and husband Dave have three children:  Victoria, 7; Mitchell, 4; and Joey, 16 months.  Getting a school close to home was so important for their family that Gina served as co-chair last fall of the Citizens Campaign for the District 112 Referendum.
That successful referendum meant there would be close to $55 million for new school space in the large district, a district that encompasses Chanhassen, Chaska, Carver, and East Union as well as Victoria. 
Roughly $40 million is for a new wing at the Chaska High School, while $14 to $15 million will build the Victoria Elementary School, the fifth elementary school in District 112.  It was a lot of money to ask for, but 4,000 district voters approved the request.  There were 2,000 voters who cast their ballots against the referendum.
"Our committee worked from June, 2003, until November, 2003," said Gina.  "It was an incredible group.  Our biggest job was keeping everyone organized and on task and getting information out there so people would vote."

Diane Koban of Victoria was elected to the School Board of District 112 in the fall of 2001, exactly two years after a pre-vious successful referendum had brought the district's fourth elementary school to Chaska instead of Victoria as hoped, as needed, indeed, as planned.
Victoria residents had supported the referendum, in part, because of promises of a school for its children.  The dis-appointment created bad feelings -- but also an awareness that Victoria would not be slighted again.
Victoria had begun to grow fast in the 1980's as local developers Marv Hartman and Fred Plocher responded to market demand with Katy Hills and Deer Run, respectively.  And then other develop-ments and developers arrived.
One-hundred young families were moving into Victoria each year, and that new growth had a voice.  It was a voice that sought attention and a fair share of taxpayer dollars for a school on its own turf.
A resident at Deer Run, Diane Koban was one of those voices in 1999 and 2000 that helped bring the groundbreaking ceremony of the Victoria Elementary School in 2004.  "People are so excited about getting a school in Victoria," she exclaimed today.
About her position on the school board she says, "It's a very political job.  It's a political office.  You have more power from the outside than sitting inside on a committee.  The administration likes to do things one way, and the board likes to do things another way.  We need to work together to get the job done."
What is the purpose of a school board?  "To give the vision and oversee the mission, and to provide the best edu-cation we can," stated Diane.  "But most often you have to defer to the experts.  We want professionals to do the job, but we see there are inconsistencies."
She said the last couple of years on the board has been a tremendous learning experience for her.  "We average about one meeting a week," she said, "but we can also have two or three meetings in one week.  We okay and approve projects.  The projects going forward need hands-on participation.  We want to better govern and we need a transparent process."
Diane said she receives $4,000 a year as a school board member.  This averages about $75 per three-hour meeting but also encompasses groundbreaking ceremonies and numerous other school related events such as "focus group time" away from home.
In the fall of 2005 -- the same year that the Victoria Elementary School is scheduled to open its doors for the very first time -- there will be three seats up for election on the School Board of District 112.  It's an opportunity for the Victoria voice to increase in the district.

The Victoria Elementary School will arrive in Victoria along with the first phase of annexation of Laketown Township.  That first phase includes 200 acres of new homes that will surround the 30 acres of elementary school property. 
Altogether, the annexation will eventually bring close to 2,000 new acres of land into the City of Victoria.  And, altogether, it is expected to bring over 300 new families into Victoria each year for some time.  In other words, the growth rate of Victoria will increase threefold tomorrow.
The future might mean that School District 112 will become the largest in the State of Minnesota.  Or it could mean that a Victoria School District will lie adjacent to a Chaska School District and a Chanhassen School District.  There are definite advantages to economies of scale, but bigger may not be better when it comes to some areas of academics.

Having a school on the front stoop is not just about academics, however.  It's also about ballfields and working with city government.
City Administrator Steve Sarvi, prior to leaving for National Guard duty in Kosovo, was instrumental in getting the Master Plan approved last year for this area of the township that would be annexed to the City of Victoria.  The Plan included a site for a school and its accom-panying ballfields.
Victoria City Planner and Acting City Administrator Mark Kaltsas has also been an important player in the process of acquiring more ballfields for all those kids who are moving to Victoria. 
As the city person most involved for the last ten months in negotiations with Lundgren Brothers and School District 112, Mark explained how it works:
"Partnering with the school district allows a portion of the parkland dedica-tion to be credited to the developer and, in exchange, the city gets the parking lot [for 150 vehicles] paid for by the school.  The city gets shared use of the gymnasium, and it gets all the ballfields constructed to city standards, graded, and seeded."
"An exorbitant amount of money is being spent by the school," he stated, "especially if you consider all the money the city spent improving Diethelm Park.  We know how much it costs."
Mark explained that the school district will own the 10 acres on which the Victoria Elementary School sits, while the City of Victoria will own the 20 acres surrounding the school building. 
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