Which schools will have their hands out?

The annual ritual of schools asking taxpayers for more money is starting early this year.

St. Anthony-New Brighton schools will go to voters May 20 seeking $26.8 million in bonds to give district schools a major facelift.

Another north Twin Cities district -- Brooklyn Center -- might go for an operating funds vote on a date other than Election Day in November, which is ordinarily prescribed for referendums. Elections for bonds, which pay for building construction and big maintenance and renovation work, can legally be held at times of the year other than Election Day.

Operating fund referendums, used to finance such operating costs as teacher and administrator salaries and supplies, can be held at other times of the year only if the school district holding the referendum is in "statutory operating debt," defined by the state as being in the red to the tune of at least 2.5 percent of its operating budget. Brooklyn Center, with an annual budget of $19 million, is $2.1 million in the hole. But five consecutive requests to increase taxes have been shot down by voters in the past several years.

So there's been no official decision by the Brooklyn Center school board whether to go back to voters yet again.

"I think we're going to have to go out [with a request to voters]," said district Superintendent Keith Lester, who cited $1.25 million in budget cuts the board had to make this year. Lester said the board should decide by May whether to hold another referendum.

Other districts, which would have to hold their referendums the same day the next U.S. president is being elected, or wait until next year, are mixed in their intentions.

Anoka-Hennepin schools, for instance, which got much of what it wanted out of its referendum request last fall, won't go back to voters this year, but will have to next year in order to extend a tax levy that will be expiring. In the Osseo and Robbinsdale districts, which have had to make big cuts to their 2008-09 budgets, school boards are still mulling over the possibilities. St. Francis schools will likely go to its voters for more money in November. In Mounds View, there are no plans for any referendums in the near future.

Staying attractive to students

In the case of St. Anthony-New Brighton, district officials feel they have to put a new face on their aging buildings to ensure the district remains attractive to students from other districts. Almost half of the district's 1,700 students live within the boundaries of other districts, and attend St. Anthony-New Brighton schools through open enrollment.

Many families are attracted to the district's small schools. The fear is that unless the district's half-century-old buildings are given a new lease on life, those students will stop coming, taking the state per-pupil funding that comes with them elsewhere. District officials say there's also been plenty of popular support within the district for a general sprucing-up.

According to district Superintendent Rod Thompson, the request is "the culmination of what community groups have asked us to do."

Four-part request

The district bonding request is divided into four parts. The first question must pass before any of the others can be approved, Thompson said.

Question one, at a price of $11.52 million, would pay for a maintenance overhaul targeting "everything from roofing projects to tile work," he said. Other projects involve renovating 50-year-old school kitchens, fixing up restrooms, renovating science rooms and computer labs, and making the buildings wheelchair-accessible.

Projects covered by the other three requests include these at the middle school and high school, which share a building: relocating and increasing the size of band and choir rooms; adding gym space; renovating the auditorium, and converting the school cafeteria into fitness space.

Norman Draper • 612-673-4547