School districts sounding the budget alarms

In White Bear Lake, the fate of five of the city's nine elementary schools may soon be on the line. In Bloomington, fine arts classes and vocational programs could be in jeopardy. In Anoka-Hennepin, the state's largest school district, six schools, including a high school, could close and more than 500 teachers could lose their jobs. Across the metro, education officials are sounding those and other dire alarms to voters who will be asked this fall to give schools more money in the form of higher taxes. The pitch is unusually widespread -- and it may be a hard sell. Last year, just 42 percent of ballot measures to increase school funding won approval, the lowest percentage since 1980. But school officials say they have no choice but to ask again. In all, 24 school districts in the Twin Cities metro, and 91 statewide, will hold referendums this fall. That's the largest number since 2001.

"I think when people look at the facts they'll see districts are not blowing smoke," said Bob Meeks, executive director of the Minnesota School Boards Association. "I know these people well, and they are scared to death about what happens if these referendums are not approved."

But not everyone agrees with that assessment. "With few exceptions, this is a process akin to blackmail," said David Strom, president of the Minnesota Free Market Institute. "'If you don't do this we're going to do this to you.' Imagine if a business did this to you. You're going to go somewhere else."

There's a cost to voters/taxpayers, of course. In Anoka-Hennepin, approving all four of the district's tax-increase questions would cost the owner of a $250,000 home an extra $330 a year.

A perfect financial storm

Strom doesn't think public schools deserve the funding they get now. "The education establishment has managed to squeeze a tremendous amount of resources out of taxpayers, and they don't deliver the results in terms of student performance," he said.

Whatever the justification, for many school districts this year represents a perfect financial storm. Many districts tried to win property tax increases last fall, but about 60 percent of those measures failed. Some of the same factors blamed for that showing remain in 2007. Although surveys conducted by education officials show positive feelings toward schools, fears about increased property taxes in a time of economic uncertainty inspire many voters to say "No," school leaders said.

Costs have soared everywhere and, in some districts, enrollments have declined, providing districts with less state money. Though new state funding amounted to almost $800 million this year and next year, much of it was earmarked for special education, meaning some districts got more new money than others. And a 1990s rule limiting school tax levies to 10 years means that many of those measures run out this year, driving districts to ask voters to approve them again.

The impact of proposed reductions is sending shock waves through some communities.

Coon Rapids High School parent Gracia Lindberg looked over the list of possible budget cuts in the Anoka-Hennepin schools and said they seem to "stab at the heart."

The letter she received as an Anoka-Hennepin parent posed the threat of budget-slashing so massive that school district officials termed it "the largest cuts ever seen in ... any Minnesota school district." Lindberg focused on the possible loss of a high school and the chance that class sizes might balloon.

"Close a high school?" fumed Lindberg, who has two daughters at the high school. "We just opened a new high school. And we just changed school boundaries. You know what? Class sizes are already ridiculous."

High-profile academic programs such as Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate programs could be jeopardized, too, if voters defeat the tax increase. Champlin Park High School senior Stephanie Finnvik, who takes such courses, expressed chagrin.

"That would be such a disappointment," she said. "Why would they hold us back when there are other students who probably don't even care?"

Sky-high speech costs

For Anoka-Hennepin teachers, parents and students involved in activities, big 2002 fee increases took a toll on participants in such programs as marching band, speech team and girls' basketball. Some fear further increases could kill those programs.

"We won't have a speech team at all," said Angie Swedberg, Spanish teacher and speech team coach at Champlin Park High, one of the largest schools in the state. Last year, Swedberg's team consisted of a paltry 11 students. Before fees jumped from $50 to $230, the number was close to two dozen. High schools with powerhouse speech teams have as many as 100 members.

Marching band participation at the school has plummeted from almost 200 members in the late 1990s to 110 this year. Director Daniel Grivna attributes at least some of that decline to the rise in fees, which now stand at $234. The band is traveling to Phoenix this year to play at the Fiesta Bowl. With the cost of that trip included, parents estimate it will cost $2,000 to be a band member this school year.

Not all districts are being so specific in telling voters the consequences of a "no" at the polls. Some school officials fret about voter backlash against such threats, or that voters might think schools are bluffing. Anoka-Hennepin officials stress that their proposed cuts are preliminary and that a final list won't come out until after public meetings.

In Bloomington, officials say they might have to close a school, cut counselors, and pare down or eliminate a reading readiness program aimed at getting low-income and poorly prepared preschoolers ready for kindergarten.

A signature Bloomington music program that has every fifth-grader learn to play a string or band instrument would be on the chopping block. Normandale Hills Elementary music teacher Jeff Zupfer said that would be a disaster for the district's vaunted secondary-school music programs.

"The band is part of what makes Bloomington Bloomington," he said.

Professional beggars?

White Bear Lake, which has about 8,500 students, made $2.5 million in cuts last year after a referendum narrowly failed. This fall's proposal would raise $11 million a year. But the district is already planning for $10 million in cuts, just in case.

Superintendent Ted Blaesing said he isn't trying to frighten voters. The plan for cuts is real, he said.

"It's a shame that schools have become reduced to being professional beggars," he said. "We have a finance system that is broken and needs desperate attention."

Five schools would close and 110 of 500 teachers would be cut. Librarians, music teachers and phy ed teachers would be gone from elementary schools. "We've made round after round of budget cuts," said Blaesing. "What remains is folks directly involved in the classroom."

At Lincoln Elementary, that means gym teacher Ken Liekis and music teacher Jane Burmeister would be gone.

"It's a shame," said Liekis, who has taught at Lincoln for 11 years. "With the obesity and diabetes epidemic, I was hoping it would never come to this."

If he lost his job, he said, he would probably switch professions, because "no district out there will be looking just for a phy ed teacher."

Burmeister's classes cover everything from teaching rhythm and pitch to first-graders to teaching older kids music history and how to play recorders and drums. "Students would be really shortchanged," she said. "If they wanted to go on to music in junior high and high school, where is the foundation?"

The thought that Lincoln could be one of the schools that closes upsets Nancy Thom, whose son Max is a third-grader there. Lincoln is a community in the truest sense of the world, she said. Some students' parents and grandparents attended the same school.

Last year, Thom led the efforts of Lincoln parents to get the tax increase passed. This year she is involved in a phone bank that will push voters to support the school vote.

Will her son Max still have phy ed and music teachers next year? Thom said she was sure last year's tax vote would pass. Now she's keeping her fingers crossed, but she's not so sure.

"I really don't know," she said, throwing up her hands.

Norman Draper • 612-673-4547 Mary Jane Smetanka • 612-673-7380