Foley voters elect new trio to school board

The Foley School District Board of Education will have three new faces starting in January 2027.

In a close race featuring five candidates vying for three vacancies, Todd Novak, Shelby Bowland and Racheal Helmbrecht emerged victorious and will serve four-year terms. Nathan Legatt and Nathan Anderson placed fourth and fifth, respectively, in the voting. Anderson was the lone incumbent in the race.

Novak was the leading vote-getter, finishing with 2,634 (27.2%) votes, followed by Bowland with 1,917 (19.8%) and Helmbrecht with 1,747 (18%). Legatt received 1,692 votes (17.5%) and Anderson had 1,641 (17%). There were 50 write-in votes.

All three electees are Foley High School graduates.

Novak is a 2004 FHS graduate and works at Sentra-Sota Sheet Metal in Waite Park. He said he is grateful for the opportunity to serve his hometown school.

“I want to thank everyone who voted,” Novak said. “I’m exciting to work with the other board members and staff to help create the best possible experience and education for our children.”

Bowland, a client services manager at Stearns Bank in St. Cloud for the past 11 years, said she is ready to get going.

“I’m super excited — it’s kind of surreal feeling that our community pulls together like this and votes people in,” Bowland said. “It was very weird seeing my name on that ballot. I’m excited to learn a whole bunch of new things. I had multiple people ask who I should vote for, and it’s crazy because everyone on the ballot are amazing people and would bring great opportunities to and views to the board.”

Helmbrecht, a team lead for Benton and Stearns counties in the Minnesota Judicial District, looks forward to uniting everyone involved with the school district.

“I’m excited to work with Shelby, Todd and the current board and make positive changes,” Helmbrecht said. “I’m hoping to get the community and school back to working together with communication, transparency and holding parents accountable for parenting, holding teachers accountable for what they’re supposed to be doing, and also the administration. Once you do that, things will fall into place.”

The Sauk Rapids-Rice School District had three incumbents run unopposed. Dan Johnson, Lisa Loidolt and Robyn Holthaus each will return to the board to serve four-year terms.

Johnson received 6,618 votes, Loidolt 6,460 and Holthaus 6,326. There were 195 write-in votes.

Constitutional
amendement passes

A constitutional amendment to the Permanent School Fund passed, meaning all public schools will get an increased portion of the fund annually. The amendment passed with 73% approval statewide, with only 60% of Benton County voters saying “yes.”

Blank votes on the amendment counted as a “no” vote, and the passage does not raise taxes.

“We are grateful to Minnesota voters for supporting our students through the passage of the Permanent School Fund constitutional amendment,” said Bradley D. Bergstrom, SRR School District superintendent. “These resources support our work to provide high-quality instruction and move students toward success.”

Though exact amounts each district receives is unknown, Tracey Fiereck, SRR’s director of business services, estimates the district will receive about $140,000 based on $33 per student.

Dan Posthumus, Foley School District superintendent, estimated his district will receive about $60,000.

“Thank you to all who supported this amendment to the constitution in order to allow more of the fund to be distributed to public schools,” Posthumus said. “The additional funding will be helpful in our work with students next school year and into the future.”