Voters smiling on levy requests from suburban schools

By NORMAN DRAPER, Star Tribune

Last update: November 4, 2009 - 2:04 PM

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Suburban voters gave school districts much of what they wanted Tuesday.

Votes on levy and bond questions in 16 metro-area districts showed most requests getting the thumbs up. In some cases, that means millions of dollars more for cash-strapped schools.

The biggest levy request -- by Anoka-Hennepin schools -- was approved by a nearly 3-to-2 margin.

That request sought an eight-year renewal of an expiring $6 million-a-year-levy and an added $2 million-a-year inflationary increase. District officials had warned that the renewal was crucial to avoiding a $26 million budget shortfall next year.

In St. Francis, two levy requests -- totaling a combined $1.76 million a year over five years -- were narrowly approved. That was a turnaround for the district, which had come up short in levy referendums in the past two years.

In districts such as Jordan, Buffalo, South St. Paul, Centennial and Spring Lake Park, voters approved levy requests or at least give partial approval if there was more than one question on the ballot.

Overall, it was a relatively quiet referendum season, with only 57 of the state's estimated 340 districts going to their voters for more money.

Many districts declined to hold referendums this year, either because they had gotten property tax revenue boosts from voters in previous referendums, or they were leery of asking for more at a time when so many voters are making do with less.

But the conventional wisdom among educators also holds that it's best to make property tax requests in years when there are no big national races at stake and fewer voters are likely to show up.

In Anoka-Hennepin -- the state's largest district -- voters might have worried that if the levy request was turned down, the district would have to close another school, in addition to five elementary schools, one middle school, a kindergarten center and an early childhood center likely to be closed at the end of the school year, said board chairman Tom Heidemann.

"I'm sure that was part of it, the concern that maybe another school would have to be closed," Heidemann said. "But it's always hard to say how it's going to come out. ... We've had to make a lot of difficult decisions about closing schools and redrawing school boundaries, and [the voters] still see the value of local property taxes funding our schools."

The St. Francis district divided its referendum into two questions and conducted a poll that indicated that three-quarters of the respondents either favored the district's requests or could be persuaded to do so.

"That research was right on the button," said Superintendent Edward Saxton.

Norman Draper • 612-673-4547

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