Minnesota voters back half of school finance levies, reelect most board incumbents

About half of the Minnesota school districts that asked voters for more money on Election Day got it.

In Northfield, the school district’s $121 million three-question funding request saw full approval, meaning school leaders will be able to move forward with building a new gymnasium, classroom addition and geothermal heating and cooling system.

Minneapolis voters OK’d a $20 million technology spending levy for the financially-strapped public school district.

Voters across the state were willing to renew existing levies for building maintenance and upgrades, and for technology. It was a different story, though, when they were asked to pay more for day-to-day operating costs.

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Thirty districts this year asked voters to approve levies for daily costs, including 28 that put questions on ballots this week. Only 40 percent of those requests were OK’d — one of the lowest approval rates since 1980.

“One of the things that really stuck out to us is people were willing to vote to maintain. They weren’t interested in increasing their local property taxes,” said Kirk Schneidawind, executive director of the Minnesota School Boards Association.

Schneidawind said he believes that’s a reflection of how Minnesotans feel about the economy.

“The general default for many voters is, ‘I’m going to vote no if I don’t understand it or don’t know about it,’” Schneidawind said. “People, in their mind, the economy, prices of things and costs of things have gone up. And inflation, even though it’s been coming down, it’s still impacting their pocketbook. And I think perhaps folks saw that or felt that and weren't supportive of new increases for our public schools.”

Statewide, 45 districts put some sort of financial question on their local ballots this year with 51 percent approved.

School boards

More than 300 Minnesota school districts sought to fill open school board seats this election. In places where incumbents were on the ballot, voters elected to keep them at a rate of nearly 87 percent.

While this year’s competition wasn’t as intense as in recent years, many districts had multiple candidates on their ballots. Behind those candidates were organizations spending time and money on training and endorsements.

The Minnesota Parents Alliance, a conservative organization launched in 2022, endorsed nearly 130 candidates in 56 Minnesota districts in its voter guide. Teacher unions backed nearly 100 candidates in 33 districts. The School Board Integrity Project, a progressive organization launched last year, endorsed 45 candidates in 27 districts.

In the 29 districts where there were candidates from both the Minnesota Parents Alliance and the teachers union or School Board Integrity Project facing off, 31 Minnesota Parents Alliance-endorsed candidates won and 50 union or School Board Integrity Project-endorsed candidates won.

Education Minnesota president Denise Specht claimed victory in an emailed statement, saying union-backed candidates won nearly 75 percent of their races.

Leaders of the Minnesota Parents Alliance also focused on wins, pointing to wins in 56 percent of races with endorsed candidates and seats gained in 47 school boards and majorities gained on boards in Elk River, Lakeville, Forest Lake and Prior Lake, MPA leader Cristine Trooien said in a statement.

Here are the results in a few districts MPR News tracked on Tuesday.

Prior Lake-Savage

In 2022, the open seats on this suburban district’s school board were hotly contested by opposing slates of candidates who staked out sides in a tug of war that involved organized parent groups, teacher unions, networks of political donors and families worried school equity efforts were in jeopardy.

This year there were six candidates running for three open seats. The candidates — just one of whom was seeking reelection — were divided into those backed by the local teacher union versus those who received endorsements from the Minnesota Parents Alliance.

Two of the Minnesota Parents Alliance candidates won, backed by local "Lakers for Liberty" and Moms for Liberty groups that sank at least $2,900 in the election. Just one union-endorsed candidate won, supported by the union and a different local group to the tune of close to $5,000, meaning this school board, come January, will be led by a majority of MPA-endorsed candidates. Candidates spent more than $10,000 on the board races.

Voters in this district also rejected the school system’s request for a levy to help pay for daily operations.

Brainerd

In Brainerd, there were seven candidates running for three seats. Only one didn’t secure endorsements from either the Minnesota Parents Alliance or the local teacher union. All union-endorsed candidates were incumbents. Of those, two won reelection. The third open seat was filled by a Minnesota Parents Alliance-backed candidate.

In the 2022 election cycle, Brainerd saw a frenzy of school board campaign spending with candidates racking up nearly $80,000 in disbursements on advertising, mailers and signs. This year, the spending has come way down and is now closer to $11,000.

The three election winners will oversee a district serving at least 6,000 students in north-central Minnesota.

Fergus Falls

Nine candidates were running to fill three seats in this west-central Minnesota district where nearly 3,000 students attend school. Three union-endorsed candidates, supported by about $2500 in union campaign spending, beat out three Minnesota Parents Alliance-endorsed candidates.

Lakeville

In Lakeville, nine candidates vied to fill three seats on a board overseeing district-level decisions for more than 12,000 students in this Twin Cities outer ring suburb.

Campaign finance reports from August and September show close to $20,000 spent on the board elections, mostly from the teachers union. The six endorsed candidates were backed by either the local teachers’ union or the Minnesota Parents Alliance, none of whom are incumbents.

One union candidate and two Minnesota Parents Alliance candidates won, meaning alliance-backed members will hold a board majority come January.

Osseo

In the Twin Cities suburban district of Osseo, there were six candidates running to fill three open board seats. None of the candidates were incumbents. They raised at least $9,000 between them for websites, business cards, flyers, T-shirts, signs and other campaign spending.

This district’s current board has been the site of clashes over policies regarding gender inclusion, instruction and LGBTQ+ pride flags.

On Tuesday voters backed two union and School Board Integrity Project candidates and one Minnesota Parents Alliance candidate.

St. Francis

In St. Francis, in the northern Twin Cities exurbs, there were 10 candidates running for four open school board seats. The Minnesota Parents Alliance and local teachers union each endorsed four candidates, none of whom was an incumbent.

The winners were evenly split — two union-endorsed candidates and two Parents Alliance-endorsed candidates won.

Rosemount-Apple Valley-Eagan

This metro-area district saw two candidates competing in a special election to fill a single school board seat. The local teachers union spent more than $90,000 to support their endorsed candidate, who won the seat.

Editor's note (Nov. 8, 2024) This story was updated to add additional information from spending reports from the Prior Lake-Savage school district.