Closings, cuts raise stakes for schools

In the Anoka-Hennepin and Robbinsdale school districts, voters still feel the sting of recent school closings. St. Francis schools will roll the dice once again Nov. 3, hoping to end a trend of referendum losses, and forestall $2 million in budget cuts and fee increases next year. In St. Anthony/New Brighton, two school board candidates are taking on the district's practice of importing hundreds of students from other districts.

Just because it's a relatively slow election year for schools, with only a handful of Twin Cities districts going to voters seeking more money, that doesn't make the stakes any lower for those districts where elections are taking place.

There's certainly no dearth of candidates for school board in Robbinsdale, where 11 candidates are running for four seats. In St. Francis, seven candidates are vying for three. The reasons for the high profile of these elections vary.

"I think the interest is heightened because the school board accomplished a lot over the past two years," said Robbinsdale School Board Chairman Tom Walsh, who is seeking reelection. That includes last year's successful referendum effort to raise funding, after the district lost out in a contentious referendum the year before. Walsh also cited the board's preparation of a district strategic plan, which drew the involvement of hundreds of district residents, and the closing of three schools, which is projected to save the district $2 million a year.

The pain from the school closings, which resulted in the displacement of almost 3,000 students beginning this school year, still lingers, though.

In his door-to-door campaigning, Walsh said, he still encounters dissatisfaction with the closings.

"It depends on the neighborhood," he said. "In the neighborhoods where schools have closed, that's a big issue. The other things is taxes in general."

One Robbinsdale board candidate, Mark Bomchill, was former PTA vice president at New Hope's Sunny Hollow Elementary School, which was shut down as a neighborhood school and converted to house the district's Spanish immersion program.

"There are people who are ticked off that the schools got closed," he said. Bomchill, whose candidacy arose out of the school closing process, said he's more concerned with how the school board picked the schools to be closed.

"Schools had to be closed," he said. "Did we close the right schools? That's the question. ... I was more upset with the process that the board and administration took. We thought there was misinformation and half-truths given us."

The slate of Robbinsdale candidates includes Darlene Baker of Plymouth, Richard Brynteson of Crystal, incumbent Patsy Green of New Hope, incumbent Linda Johnson of Golden Valley, Jim Oathout of Crystal, Andrew Richter of Crystal, Beth Sharpe of Brooklyn Center, Sue Stavenau of Plymouth, and Brian Zirbes of Crystal.

Anoka-Hennepin

In Anoka-Hennepin, which is hoping voters will approve a levy renewal and inflationary increase of $8 million a year, hard feelings still fester over the school board's recent decision to close five elementary schools, a middle school, an early childhood center, and a kindergarten center next year.

School Board Chairman Tom Heidemann said cuts totaling $26 million would have to be made next year should voters turn down the referendum request. Complicating matters are teacher contract negotiations, which have grown difficult enough to call in a mediator to try to bring both sides closer to an agreement. Heidemann said board members are determined to keep teacher pay increases small enough to make a big dent in the projected deficit.

In addition to the referendum, three school board seats are on the ballot; in two cases, the incumbent isn't challenged, but in the third, incumbent Kathy Tingelstad, a former state legislator, is facing Patrick Murray, a retired principal and teacher, and Jeff Simon, a private businessman and former guidance counselor.

St. Francis

In St. Francis, the school board is trying to stop a losing trend. The district has failed twice in the past two years in its efforts to get more property tax revenues out of its residents, and has also lost four requests for bonds to build a new elementary school. The few successes included a 2003 levy request, and bonds for a high school additional and school maintenance.

This year's referendum ballot is divided into two questions; the proposal would raise $1.78 million a year for the district over five years if both questions are approved. But school board candidate Marsha Van Denburgh said district voters she is talking to say they're concerned about paying more in property taxes and that the district keeps coming back to them for more money after voters turn them down.

"I hear a lot that there's a lack of listening to what the public wants," she said. "

Board Vice Chairman David Anderson, up for reelection, said "there's a lot of positive people that want to see the levy passed; it's just that they need to turn out to support it."

Van Denburgh and Anderson join candidates Todd Gardner, William Gardner, incumbent Harry Grams, Juanita Reed-Boniface, and Albert Viall Sr. in the race for three board seats.

St. Anthony-New Brighton

In St. Anthony-New Brighton schools, it's all the students coming in from surrounding districts that are an issue for some district voters. Two board candidates -- Sandor Miko and Kelly Everhart -- say that the students who live in other districts but are enrolled in St. Anthony-New Brighton are clogging district schools and creating a need for more and better facilities. That, in turn, results in a property tax hike for voters, they say. District officials say those students, who can enroll in district schools under the provisions of the state's open enrollment law, bring in $3 million a year in state funding to the district. That, they argue, allows the district to afford more courses. Open-enrolled students make up 45 percent of St. Anthony-New Brighton's 1,700 students.

Miko and Everhart are challenging three incumbents -- David Evans, Barry Kinsey and Leah Slye -- on the ballot for three seats.

Norman Draper • 612-673-4547