More Minnesota school districts are looking to local taxpayers this November to prop up the costs of keeping school in session.
Districts across the state rely on a mix of federal, state and local money to fund school personnel salaries, technology purchases, building upkeep and renovations and other education programming costs. More schools, however, are leaning on local tax dollars to fund larger portions of their budgets.
Referendums are becoming more and more common as districts look to local residents to pay for schools, said Kirk Schneidawind, executive director of the Minnesota School Boards Association, which tracks the number of districts that put referendum questions on November ballots each year.
“It has become such a standard operating procedure for our school districts, I hate to say it,” Schneidawind said. “You need to invest money to make those (education) opportunities available.”
Last year, 36 Minnesota districts asked voters to approve funding for school facilities and technology. This year that number leapt to 55 districts.
Schools are also asking for more money for day-to-day operating costs. Last year, 32 districts asked voters to approve operating levies. This year, 43 districts are making that ask.
Districts are anticipating economic challenges and asking voters to help them be financially ready to continue educating students, Schneidawind added.
School district leaders “look around the landscape, they see the state’s forecast in the next biennium not being particularly rosy” and they worry about inflation and the unpredictability of federal funding, he said.
Levy requests, school board slots on the ballot
Among the districts seeking new funding this fall, the Hopkins school district is asking voters to approve a $140 million plan to update school facilities, add security features, modernize classrooms, improve parking lots and upgrade playground and athletic facilities.
The Cambridge-Isanti district is asking voters for $87.1 million to build new classrooms and add safety features to existing infrastructure. It’s also asking for $37.5 million to build a new high school indoor field house.
The state’s second largest district, St. Paul, also has a question on the ballot in November. Leaders there say they want to pass a $37 million operating levy to avoid laying off staff and ending education programs.
In rural southern Minnesota, the Granada Huntley East Chain school district is asking voters to approve nearly $9 million to renovate its kitchen as well as its career and technical education facilities. It’s also asking voters to approve an operating levy to help pay for staffing and programming costs.
It’s not just funding on the ballot for many Minnesota school districts. There are also dozens of school board seats up for grabs, including three seats in the state’s largest school district, Anoka-Hennepin.
Statewide, 21 school districts are holding regular elections and 12 are planning special elections to replace board members who vacated their seats before the end of their terms.
Minnesota’s school board elections have seen a spike in competition and spending in the years since the pandemic, in part due to increased state and national attention on school boards as an opportunity for politicization.
Some Minnesota districts are still seeing high levels of competition for seats. In Hinckley-Finlayson, 11 candidates are competing for four seats. In South Washington County, nine candidates are vying for four seats.
Schneidawind, though, said he believes the tenor of Minnesota’s school board races is becoming more calm.
“I feel like it’s normalized a little bit, coming out of the COVID-19 years,” Schneidawind said. “It’s a little bit more stable.”
