Posted: 9/26/03
by Tad Johnson
Thisweek Newspapers
Sixty-two of the state’s school districts are seeking operating levies Nov. 4 to address a wide range of issues.
From those aiming to maintain programs in the face of declining enrollment to those attempting to keep up with rapid growth, many school districts are feeling the squeeze of a two-year freeze of the state’s basic education funding formula.
The Lakeville Area School District is no different.
This fall the district is asking voters to approve a two-question operating levy.
Passage of the first question would give the board authority to raise about $2.9 million per year for seven years to fund operating costs of the district’s second high school, slated to open in fall 2005 and reconfigure grade levels to relieve building overcrowding.
A successful second question would raise about $1.4 million per year for four years to maintain programs.
With a fall election pending, members of the Citizens Vote Yes Committee are sending out an S.O.S. to “Support Our Schools.”
“We want to stress how important it is to vote and vote yes,” said Ronda Willsher, who is coordinating communication efforts for Citizens Vote Yes. “It is really up to us. Both questions come down to the responsibility of the voter.”
They say the responsibility, if both questions pass, translates to about $5 a week for the owner of property valued at $200,000 in the district ($243 annually). The owner of a $250,000 property would pay about $305 per year or $5.86 a week.
As the Vote Yes committee prepares to distribute informational fliers in the mail and at public gatherings, they are also making lawn signs to promote “Support Our Schools, It’s up to Us.”
“Signs are very effective,” Willsher said. “It gives everyone a very visible way to show their support.”
The 12-member core committee had about 150 volunteers during the successful four-question bond election in April 2002. About 10,200 voters went to the polls and approved all four questions with about 60 percent of yes votes.
Instead of asking for authorization to issue bonds to build and rehabilitate buildings, the district seeks an operating levy to fund district operations. The two kinds of voter-approval funds can’t be used for the other.
Willsher, who has two children at Christina Huddleston Elementary School, says talking to parents of children in the schools is easier because they have a high level of awareness.
For those voters who don’t have children in school, she says voting for the levy will benefit the community.
“It’s all about the quality of life in Lakeville,” she said. “If we have sub-quality schools, it hurts the whole community. It is harder to recruit employees, it is harder to sell homes.”
For those who say that the school district is spending too much money, Willsher says it is a low-spending school district. She points to the district’s rank of 41 out of 48 metro area school districts in spending per pupil unit.
“It is a prudent, well-managed district. There are no frills here,” she said.
“Lakeville is in a solid financial position. But that will change fast if this doesn’t pass.”
If neither levy question passes, based on current budget assumptions, the district would face an estimated $5.5 million deficit at the end of the 2005-06 fiscal year, according to Lonnie Smith, director of business services.
This would place the district in statutory operating debt as defined by the state. At that point, the district would have to follow stringent state requirements to recover the deficit.
If both levy questions were to pass, the district would have a positive $3.32 million fund balance at the end of 2005-06. This is about $2 million below the 6 percent of reserves recommended by the district’s auditors to cash flow the district between state aid payments.
If both levy questions were to pass, based on current assumptions, the district would still face a $3.4 million general fund deficit in 2006-07.
“The cuts are ongoing. This will not eliminate all financial responsibility,” Willsher said.
More dramatic cuts would be needed if the levy were to fail. Those cuts were roughly outlined during Tuesday’s regular school board meeting (see related story).
For the 2003-04 school year, the board cut $1.188 million from the budget and programmed in a projected increase of $113,000 in revenues from increased parking and extracurricular fees.
Next on the list of cuts were increasing the transportation distance and cutting current teaching staff.
Other districts
As politicians have clamored for greater accountability in education, school districts are increasingly relying on voter approval for funding. Bond and operating levy referenda have long been part of the funding of schools.
Twenty-one percent of school districts will have either a levy or bond question on the ballot Nov. 4, according to Bob Meeks, executive director of the Minnesota School Boards Association.
That doesn’t match the 188 school districts that proposed referendums in 2001 when the state “took over” a majority of funding for schools. Voters approved 130 funding questions. Lakeville was among the 50 that failed.
The following year, 50 of 84 questions posed passed, including Lakeville’s four bond questions.
When asked what voters were saying about questions proposed for Nov. 4, Meeks said, “It is hard to gauge right now because it is so early. … It is going to be another month until we know how we are doing.”
School district officials and Citizens Vote Yes know they have their work cut out for them in getting the word out about the election.
In August, the school district hosted an electronic survey for two groups.
When voters were asked if they would personally support an increase of $390 per pupil unit, the split of yes, no and undecided went 39, 46 and 15 percent in the first session and 22, 64 and 14 in the second session. With the district’s two questions, it is seeking $375 per pupil unit.
Tad Johnson 