Few districts seeking levy referendums this year

It's hard to be heard above the din of any presidential election, let alone this year's, so most school districts are sitting this one out.

Only 28 districts are putting operating levy referendums before voters this year — the fewest in 32 years — and only 10 are asking for money for buildings, according to the Minnesota School Boards Association.

"Anytime you go up and try and put information out during a presidential election, it's a very hard thing to do because you get drowned out," said MSBA communications director Greg Abbott. And when school boards can't get out the message about why they need money, he said, voters are reluctant to approve.

Increased state funding and the fact that many districts passed tax measures in the last few years may also contribute to the low, he said.

Minnesota school districts must get voter approval for taxation that exceeds a limit set by the state. Every few years, districts need to come back to renew or increase that authorization.

Minneapolis is one of the districts that has a tax measure on the ballot this year. The district is asking voters to renew an existing operating levy, with no projected tax increase. Still, like many Minnesota districts, Minneapolis depends on the referendum money.

"If this referendum doesn't pass, each school will be hit with huge cuts, insurmountable cuts," said referendum campaign manager Donald McFarland. He said the money in question is about 13 percent of the district's budget.

Minneapolis has had referendum success in past presidential years. In 2008, for example, voters approved by a wide margin a measure that nearly doubled the per-pupil operating levy.

But the situation is different this year, following a year and a half of upheaval in the district's leadership. Still, McFarland said he's optimistic the message is getting out, despite the presidential race. He said canvassers with the Minneapolis DFL Party have been distributing referendum information.

"Voters in Minneapolis are pretty clear on who their presidential pick is, so we're able to quickly pivot to what else is on the ballot, and that's really this referendum," McFarland said.

In other districts it's a different story. Minnesota districts vary widely in how much money they collect from voter-approved taxes. Some districts boost their state funding by several thousand dollars per student, while others collect only a few hundred dollars per student.

The state makes up for some of this gap with other kinds of funding. Disparities spiked in 2013, but since then have narrowed and are smaller than they've been in decades.

Still, the North St. Paul-Maplewood-Oakdale district last passed an operating levy increase in 2002, and it ranks 35th out of 49 metro-area districts in how much referendum money it collects per student. Voters rejected a $900-per-student increase in 2015, so this year the district reduced its request to $630 per student.

"Even though it's a presidential year, we just didn't feel like we could take a year off and not try to push this forward, because it's really that important for us," said Superintendent Christine Osorio.