Elect Drew McMillen ~ School Board

Talking Points On Nov. 6, 2001, Operating Referendum

The School Board is running an operating referendum November 6 for two reasons:

(1) The Governor and legislature gave double digit percentage increases to out-state school districts and Minneapolis and St. Paul for two years; they gave 2.9% to District 833 for the same two years. This is insufficient revenue for this district to run on, especially when inflation for the past two years was 6.9%.
(2) The Governor and Legislature took the last referendum away. They changed the rules in mid-stream. The $400 is gone at the end of this year. The $415 that replaced it on the formula became less than $350 due to subtractions in law. Not all of the formula money can not go directly to the classroom as the referendum money did.

The district will make cuts of $1.5 million this year and $3.9 million for next year

How do we educate our children without destroying the family budget? No parent or teacher wants to have their student do without, but can we afford everything? Being able to balance the needs of a society for educating the next generation within the realities of our own budgets is critical. How do we balance a high school system geared towards college preparation with students who might want to be mechanics, paralegals, restaurant managers or police officers?

III. The amount of cuts necessary to balance this budget would have a horrific effect on education and class size.

Each classroom would have between 31 and 40 students in it. That is the amount necessary to balance the budget.

IV. Cuts are a way of life in this school district. This school year is the 9th year of the past 11 that we have made cuts.

Over the past 11 years, the district has cut over $9.5 million. In many cases this district has never had the programs and personnel that some districts are now threatening to cut.

V. This referendum is an Operating Referendum.

If approved by the voters, the money from it will be used to pay teachers to keep class sizes at current levels and the quality of education high. The referendum has two questions. The second question is contingent on the passage of the first question.

A. Question 1 - $378 per pupil unit to maintain current class sizes and the four period day at the high schools. The money will benefit every student equally, regardless of the school they attend.
B. Question 2 - An additional $126 per pupil unit to provide program improvements or maintain current programs for the individual buildings. The money will be sent to each building for their decision on how to use it within any of the three following categories: (1) additional class size reduction, (2) gifted and talented programs/academic enhancements, and/or (3) individual student attention and remedial help.

VI. Every student benefits equally.

Every student benefits from maintaining lower class size. Every student benefits from the programs designed by the school community to meet the specific needs of each of our 19 schools.

VII. If this referendum fails, the Board will be forced to make drastic cuts to schools, programs and personnel.

Here are the consequences that the Board has indicated it will implement in the event the referendum fails.

A. INCREASE class size by a MINIMUM of four at all grade levels ($3.3 million)
B. Eliminate elementary and secondary transportation within two miles ($232,000) Offer transportation at a fee for those within two miles.
C. Pair (create K-3 and 4-6 schools) all elementary schools ($132,000)
D. Eliminate all student transportation to athletic and fine arts activities. ($125,000)
E. Eliminate the four period day at the high schools ($720,000).
F. Reduce extra/co-curricular activities or increase fees. ($200,000)
G. Eliminate Reading Recovery. ($504,000)
H. Reduce elementary physical education instruction. ($700,000)
I. Implement all day, every other day kindergarten. ($200,000)
J. Make additional cuts totaling $500,000.
K. These budget cuts total $6.5 million.

VIII. The money from the 1998 operating referendum was spent exactly as the Board promised.

Class size was reduced by a minimum of three students in every grade. Question 2 money was sent to each school to decide on how to spend it with substantial public input.

IX. An additional result of the 1998 operating referendum was increased student achievement.

student test scores have increased from the time of this referendum forward. Both the Basic Standard Test scores (BST's) for all eighth graders and the Minnesota Comprehensive Assessments (MCA's) for grades three and five have gone up since 1998. The referendum has achieved the desired results. Class size reduction has made a difference.

X. Cutting only one or two items will not be enough to solve our financial problem.

Cutting all administrative costs will not solve the problem. District 833 spends less than 4% of its budget on administration. The district ranks second from the bottom in this category - 47th of 48 metro school districts.
Cutting athletic costs will not solve the problem. District 833 spends less than 1% of its budget on athletics and fine arts programs. The district ranks second from the bottom in athletic and fine arts expenditures - 47th of 48 metro districts.
Even if we cut all administration, all athletics, all fine arts, and cut all utilities (electricity, gas and phones) to all district schools and buildings, the cuts would not be enough to balance the budget. This is because the insufficiency of the revenue is so large, that cuts alone will not do the job of balancing the budget.

XI. School taxes are going down substantially this next year (calendar year 2002).

Even if both questions of the referendum pass, your school taxes will still be less in 2002 than they were in 2001. Please see the graphic in the "Referendum at a Glance" handout.

XII. As of September 19, 353of the 48 metro school districts are running operating referendums.

This is an indication of the size of the problem for suburban school districts.

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