Minnesota schools are gearing up to ask voters for more money

With waves of cuts and layoffs behind them, Minnesota’s school districts now are looking to voters for additional funding and fiscal stability — via property tax increases — and signs point to a busy fall.

Education Minnesota, the state teachers union, said 45 local chapters have reached out for its support with potential “Vote Yes” campaigns — two to three times the usual number this time of year. Districts still have until August to fashion funding requests to appear on ballots in the fall elections.

“I can guarantee that every educator who volunteers on a referendum campaign this fall would rather be focused entirely on their students, but right now our schools are at the mercy of forces outside their control,” President Denise Specht said.

The St. Paul school district has surveyed residents about raising as much as $37 million a year in a ballot proposal to be fine-tuned in the next month.

Marshall, St. Michael-Albertville and Goodhue schools are weighing or moving ahead with funding requests with the added pressure of being among a small minority of Minnesota districts not currently collecting a single dollar of voter-approved operating revenue.

Crosby-Ironton hopes voters finally back a $1.5 million-a-year request after being spurned twice previously. If not, a four-day school week and elimination of extracurricular activities could be in the offing, Superintendent Jamie Skjeveland said.

Further north, Deer River’s public schools are on the brink of being in statutory operating debt. Asked about its ballot measure, Superintendent Pat Rendle said: “Everything we need to run a school is increasing faster than we can afford.”

A year ago, 45 school districts sought additional taxpayer funding, and just 11 of 28 operating levies on that list won voter approval.

That was a presidential year, however, when property tax hikes can be a tough sell, said Peter Leatherman, CEO of the survey firm Morris Leatherman Co.

This fall, a strong get-out-the-vote effort could have a bigger payoff, he said.

St. Paul was confronted with a $51.1 million shortfall this year, but softened the blow to classrooms by focusing on administrative cuts and tapping $35.5 million in rainy-day funds. Early-childhood programs initially were set to take a $1.5 million hit, but $543,000 in funds were restored in the end.

Not excessively harsh, then, as budget-balancing goes, but unsustainable. With reserves potentially running out, the school board has directed Superintendent Stacie Stanley to craft a ballot request for its consideration in July.

She has endorsed the move, and plans, too, to explore the potential closing of schools in the future. Families will be heard first, however, she added.

“Our schools mean everything to our community,” Stanley said. “We’re going to have to link arms. ... There are some tough decisions that will have to be made.”

St. Paul is one of 18 districts contacted by the Minnesota Star Tribune during the past two weeks that have written or are preparing ballot questions that would raise taxes for day-to-day school operations or technology or capital project improvements.

Building projects are in the works, too.

More than 70% of Minnesota school districts receive financial support from voter-approved tax measures. This year, they have until Aug. 12 to decide whether to put new questions on November ballots.

“It may be a big year,” said Greg Abbott, communications director for the Minnesota School Boards Association. Districts have relatively few places to turn to for funding when state money isn’t there, he said, and this year’s education bill was tight.

Several districts are heading for potentially lively campaign seasons.

Hibbing, Mahtomedi, North St. Paul-Maplewood-Oakdale and St. Michael-Albertville each are pitching or eyeing a pair of ballot proposals. St. Michael-Albertville aims to turn around defeats in 2021 and 2022.

“We continue to lose outstanding educators and staff to neighboring districts with more stable and competitive funding structures,” Superintendent Ann-Marie Foucault said.

Minnetonka, which is at the cap of what it can raise in voter-approved operating revenue, is weighing asking voters to guarantee $85 million in building-related loans.

Goodhue Public Schools, south of Red Wing, has been fortunate to draw students from surrounding districts through open enrollment, but unlike its neighbors, the school system has no voter-approved levy.

Special-education costs have sapped reserves. Voters will be asked to approve an additional $800 per pupil and help the district to deliver on its mission: “Growing good people to become productive members of society,” Superintendent Evan Gough said.

Monticello may be making the boldest move of all.

The school district had the option to automatically renew a $775 per student levy, said Superintendent Eric Olson. But the school board set it aside in favor of a new request for $1,550 per student. Public finance and facilities experts have been consulted, he said. Cuts were made in successive years, and another $6 million in reductions is on the line for 2026-27 if new funds aren’t available.

“We are not asking for more than what is necessary,” Olson said. “We believe in doing what’s right, not what’s easy — and this is the right time to act.”