Inver Grove Heights School Board Weighs November Levy Referendum

Passing a new levy referendum to generate additional funding for local schools is not just a matter of want, Inver Grove Heights School Board member Keri Myran said on Tuesday, it’s a matter of survival.

Myran and the other members of the board met on Monday night to plot out the future of a proposed levy referendum that could be put to local voters as early as this November. If passed, the proposed levy would replace an older levy, approved in 2002, that generates roughly $2 million in annual taxes for the school district. That levy expires in 2012.

The board’s levy discussion comes on the heels of roughly $576,000 in budget cuts, made in March, which included the elimination of 12 full-time equivalent (FTE) staff positions in the district. Over the last 10 years, the district has cut roughly $6.5 million from its budget, and Myran and others worry that the district will be faced with “devastating” cuts if a renewed levy doesn’t pass.

Board members and the district have a long road to walk — and a handful of decisions to make — before sending a levy referendum question to voters on Election Day in November. The school board will have to determine whether to seek a simple renewal of the 2002 levy, or to pursue an increase to the levy.  The board also has the option of seeking a separate “technology” levy — which generates money that can be used on technology equipment infrastructure and training.

The district currently has two levies in place. The first, which district officials are looking to replace, generates roughly $480 per pupil. The second, which expires in 2018, generates roughly $364 per pupil, for a combined total of roughly $844 per pupil. That amount hasn’t increased since 2003, at the same time that state funding for students has remained stagnant.

The board hasn’t yet decided how much to ask for from voters, but at least two board members have already expressed interest in seeking an increase to the current levy — in part because of the lack of state aid.

“This time, it’s about catching up, and the question is: ‘How much do we try to catch up?’” Inver Grove Heights School Board Vice-Chair Paul Mandell said following Monday’s meeting. “I think we have to figure out how we can get the best bang for the buck, and then be bold, clear and simple about it, and say this is what we need.”

Minnesota law prohibits school board members and district staff from campaigning in support of a levy referendum. If the district decides to pursue a levy this fall, a citizen committee will likely conduct much of the advocacy for the tax increase, Mandell said.

A consulting firm employed by the school district told the board on Monday that the district’s current levies, totaling $844 in per-pupil funding, are much lower than many of the school districts neighboring Inver Grove Heights.

According to the firm, West St. Paul will receive roughly $1,201 in per pupil funding in 2012, while the Rosemount-Apple Valley-Eagan district and South St. Paul will receive $1,042 and $1,010, respectively, in per pupil funding in 2012.

The board is required to adopt a levy amount and the formal language of the ballot question 74 days in advance of Election Day Nov. 8, according to District Business Manager Bruce Rimstad, who said that the levy up for renewal accounted for just over 5 percent of the district’s total revenue in the 2009-2010 school year. Four Inver Grove Heights School Board members are also up for re-election in November.

Mandell expects the board to vote to adopt the levy amount and language that will go to voters as soon as June.

“I think the people understand the state is not coming to the table with what they to need to come to the table with, that there has been a withdrawal in education [funding],” Mandell said. “You can only do more with less for so long, until you start doing less for less.”