UPDATED: Challengers Take Seats on Board; Voters Reject Two New Levies

There will be plenty of fresh faces on the School District 199 School Board next year.

Challengers Tom Begich, Mark Westpfahl and Allen Gerber all won election to the board on Tuesday night, ousting incumbents and eight-year board veterans Mickey Difronzo and Keri Myran. Another incumbent, Bridget Sutton, held onto her seat after garnering 1,381 votes, or roughly 15 percent of the vote. A fourth incumbent, Phil Prokopowicz, chose not to run for re-election this year.

Local voters also voted to renew an operating levy that generates roughly $480 in per pupil funding annual for local schools. But area residents stopped short when it came to approving a proposed capital projects levy and a new operating levy. Combined, the two measures would have generated an additional $2.2 million in annual tax revenue for the district, if passed. But both those initiatives failed by wide margins at the polls.

Both incoming and outgoing school board members expressed disappointment at the failure of the two new levy options on Tuesday night.

“I was really hoping that the technology referendum would’ve passed,” said Westpfahl, who was watching live election results via Twitter. "Obviously, you can still do work with what we have, and that's what we're going to have to do."

Difronzo, the outgoing school board chair, said he was surprised that the two levies failed by such a large percentage. Their failure, he said, will set the stage for some difficult budget battles in the future.

“I’m obviously disappointed [that I wasn't re-elected], but I'm more disappointed in the fact that we didn’t pass either of the levy questions,” Difronzo said. "There are going to have to be big decisions with what to do with the budget. We have the same money to work with as we've had for the past few years."

"Voters are telling us very clearly that we need to make do with what we have,” said Sutton, who ran, in part, on a platform of fiscal responsibility. "We need to be fiscally conservative, we need to focus on priorities and we need to work without partisanship."

Neither Begich or Gerber were immediately available for comment.

“I had the privilage of serving for eight years and doing some things that made a real difference in our district," said Myran, an outgoing board member. "I hope future boards continue to look toward the future for what’s in the best interest of students; that’s all anyone can ask for."

See below for complete election results.

School Board Election Results*

Levy Referendum Question #1 Results

Levy Referendum Question #2 Results

Levy Referendum Question #3 Results

Election Turnout

A total of 3,682 voters cast ballots in the school board general election this year. The 2011 turnout was marginally better than the 2009 school board election. In that election, 3,411 local voters participated and the highest vote-getter, Paul Mandell, took a total of 683 votes.

*Information courtesy of the Minnesota Secretary of State's office.

CORRECTION: The story above has been changed to correct an inaccuracy. The total number of votes cast in the 2011 election was 3,682.