Anoka-Hennepin, others are breathing easier

Several large Twin Cities districts scored millions of dollars in additional tax funds from Twin Cities voters Tuesday. But voters turned down some other district requests, while a few still were hanging in the balance.

In the state’s largest school district, Anoka-Hennepin, two funding requests that district officials warned were needed to stave off huge district reductions passed.

“We got the first two, and that’s what we needed to run the place at the same level we are now and that’s huge for it,” school board Chairman Mike Sullivan said.

Out of 341 districts in the state, 99 were going to voters for more money. That’s the second-most in recent history, trailing only 2001. Many schools were treating this year’s results as critical to the future of their school programs. Some districts were poised to either reap tens of millions in new tax dollars or be forced to make drastic cuts.

As results came in, winners seemed to outnumber losers. The Associated Press was reporting 47 districts with at least one victory, compared with 27 defeats. Some with multiple questions had split verdicts.

Nowhere were the stakes more evident than in Anoka-Hennepin. With a four-part ballot question for voters, school officials said failure to pass the first two would have meant cutting 746 teachers and shutting down as many as six elementary schools, two middle schools and one high school.

The remaining ballot questions were defeated.

They would have eased the pocketbook pinch of high sports and activity fees as well as financed upgrades in technology.

“People after digging through their pockets for the first two questions start looking at reasons to vote no on the other two,” Sullivan said.

The Robbinsdale school district faced another challenge.

Iowa-based anti-tax consultant Paul Dorr, who has built a reputation by helping to defeat levy and bond requests in five Midwestern states, had been enlisted by levy opponents to help defeat the district’s request. Dorr, who circulated anti-levy fliers to district residents, apparently turned the tide.

With results all in, voters rejected the district’s proposal to extend the current $13.1 million-a-year levy and add $9.7 million in levy funds a year over the next decade. District Superintendent Stan Mack attributed the loss to the “Dorr factor,” which included blizzarding district residents with mailings and phone calls on the last days before the vote.

The campaign calls made reference to Minneapolis invading Robbinsdale schools and lowering their quality.

“He was blatantly lying to the public about issues,” Mack charged. “Particularly centering on us serving Minneapolis students. To put it bluntly, there was a fair amount of race baiting.”

South metro

The waiting may continue for voters in the Farmington School District, since a district request to provide $3.1 million a year for schools was approved by a margin of only 12 votes. Superintendent Brad Meeks said that approval of the measure means the district can open its new high school on time in 2009, but the board will probably have to call a recount on the vote total.

The district’s other two questions, which would provide money for technology and more operating money for programming, were rejected.

In Belle Plaine, voters approved a levy to provide an additional $607,000 annually for 10 years to the schools. Last spring, the district cut more than $700,000 from its budget for the 2007-08 school year after a levy failed.

“The people I have talked to were really afraid of it not passing because of what we would have had to do at the school, what we would have had to cut next,” said Matt Lenz, a newly elected school board member.

A levy request in New Prague was also passed. Requests in Inver Grove Heights and Prior Lake-Savage were denied, as well as a request for $28.9 million for an addition to Prior Lake High School.

East metro

In the White Bear Lake district, nearly two-thirds of voters approved a $1,470-per-pupil levy that will run for five years and replace an expiring levy. Superintendent Ted Blaesing said the district’s turnout of nearly 16,000 voters was a record for an off-year election.

And the percentage of district voters who approved the levy, he said, was unprecedented.

“We’ve never had 63 percent yes on any of our votes, levy or bond,” he said. “It’s a wonderful feeling.”

District officials said they would have closed five schools if the measure had not passed. Voters rejected a levy question in the district last fall. Blaesing said he does not anticipate that this levy will restore recent cuts to the district’s budget.

Only one of the three levies on Stillwater’s ballot passed — a $927-per-pupil levy that will replace the district’s expiring levy. The other measures would have combined to reduce class sizes by an average of 2.3 students and fund a curriculum review.

Voters in the South Washington County School District renewed a levy for $14.1 million a year for 10 years. Voters approved a $149 million bond measure last fall to build a new high school and improve existing buildings.

West metro

Edina’s $10.5 million-a-year levy for the next 10 years was approved, with support from more than 70 percent of voters.

Minnetonka voters approved a $3.8 million-a-year operating levy and a $5 million-a-year technology levy. Both last for 10 years.

Farther west, Delano’s $700,000-a-year, 10-year levy squeaked through by just four votes. A $29 million bond for an elementary school failed to win voter approval.

In Bloomington, voters approved both of the school district’s levy requests, with about $5.6 million in additional operating funds for 10 years, plus a $3 million-a-year technology levy, also for 10 years. The district said it would have had to cut $5.2 million from its 2009-10 budget if the levy failed.

The Westonka School District asked voters to approve an $877,000-a-year, 10-year operating levy. The request would boost per-pupil spending by about $334 to $1,470.

Westonka’s levy referendum and the school board election were hot topics in the district after Citizens for Common Sense co-founder Tom Notch called the levy a “maximum grab.”

District officials said the levy would help lower class sizes, keep current courses and programs, and restore some cuts the district made in previous years.

Staff writers Emily Johns, Patrice Relerford and Ben Goessling contributed to this report.

Norman Draper • ndraper@startribune.com