Familiar arguments fuel Mahtomedi levy debate

The Vote Yes signs are going up, and the levy information sessions are being held, and if you want to know how much some parents value Mahtomedi schools, consider this exchange from a community meeting last week:

"I had to wait five years to get a house" in this district, one woman said.

"I had to wait six," countered another.

One of the two, Andrea Cegielski, now leads a citizens group, Our Kids Our Community, that is working to get out the vote in support of the district's bid on Nov. 4 to raise operating revenues and, in turn, overcome social-media protests from tax-weary opponents.

Like Our Kids Our Community, the Vote No constituency has a Facebook page of its own, and it continues to assail the district's practice of accepting open enrollment students, and to criticize district expenditures.

No one involved with the page took up a Star Tribune request last week to talk about the campaign. The page's administrators, a reporter was told, have children attending district schools or relatives working for the district, and wish to remain anonymous. But the opponents have an audience: A year ago, the Mahtomedi district was one of the few in the state to see voters reject a proposal for new operating revenues.

At last week's community meeting at Mahtomedi High, Superintendent Mark Larson noted how the district has tried hard in recent years to explain how it has taken in open enrollment students to offset declining resident student numbers and, in turn, protect current course offerings. It also has worked to explain the economics of that strategy.

Mahtomedi is seeking to raise an additional $593 per student to stabilize revenues and reduce elementary class sizes to levels below the metro average, Larson said. According to the district, class sizes now exceed the metro averages in grades 2-4.

If the levy is defeated, the district will have to cut $2.2 million from its 2015-16 budget. Unlike a year ago, the district has specified the cuts, which include teacher layoffs that would raise elementary class sizes by an average of four students and secondary class sizes by an average of three students.

In addition, athletic fees would be increased, and College in the Schools programming eliminated. The latter gives students the opportunity to earn college credits, and to do so while on the high school campus, where they can "still be a kid at times," Mahtomedi High Principal Kathe Nickleby told community members last week.

That levy information session was open to the public and drew a small crowd of about a dozen people, a few of whom implored Larson and Cegielski to go onto the Vote No Facebook page to challenge postings that one woman described as "dirty laundry."

Cegielski said that Our Kids Our Community wanted no part of a "negative, ugly, mudslinging" campaign. She also noted that if the group were to post on the Vote No page, its supporters would see not just the Our Kids Our Community rebuttal, but the original Vote No statement that started it all.

A year ago, the district did not have a citizens group promoting its levy proposal. If Facebook support is any indication, the Vote Yes forces are gaining momentum. As of Wednesday afternoon, the Our Kids Our Community page had generated 364 "likes," compared with 106 for the Vote No page.

This week, the district will host the last of its community information meetings. The session begins at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 21, at Wildwood Elementary School.