Without levies, schools may be 'cutting bone'

Bill Kunik and Jim Ell stood in the lobby of Kenwood Trail Middle School in Lakeville, arguing.

Kunik, who was wearing a maroon University of Minnesota "Dad" sweater, plans to vote for the school district's requests for more funding on Election Day.

The levies, he said, are "probably needed." He has a son in eighth grade in Lakeville, and his two older children, who have already graduated, benefitted from programs that could be cut if the levy questions fail.

Ell disagreed. He's been a Lakeville resident for 17 years and plans to vote to maintain the district's current funding but doesn't think it should get any more.

"I don't like seeing class sizes go up," he said, but "coming at us every other year for more money ... people can't do that. My salary doesn't go up that often."

This fall, voters in the Belle Plaine, Burnsville-Eagan-Savage, Farmington, Inver Grove Heights, Lakeville, New Prague and Prior Lake-Savage districts will be voting on whether to raise their own property taxes to give more funding to local schools.

Several of these districts went to voters for more money last year and failed.

"We think people saw the impact of the failed levy last year," said Belle Plaine Superintendent Kelly Smith. "Our emphasis has been on trying to bring some of [the cuts] back."

Districts have started painting dire pictures of what will happen if this round of levy questions is also rejected by voters tired of property-tax increases.

"We really are kind of standing on the edge of a precipice right now," said Dan Luth, chairman of the Burnsville-Eagan-Savage school board. "The question is, are we going to stay on top or are we going to fall? We've done what we can to cut the budget and keep the pain level down, but we're cutting the bone now. There is no way around it."

Staff and growing class sizes

Deanna Bane doesn't think she can fit one more body in her classroom.

"Their desks are about 2 feet away from the board right now," said Bane, a chemistry teacher at Burnsville High School, "and they go from wall to wall."

She likes to walk through her classes of 33 to 36 students and intermingle, but it's becoming impossible in a room built to hold 24. Forming relationships with students is also hard, when even remembering everyone's name is a challenge.

"It's a nightmare for me," she said. "Their desks are so close together that they can barely get in and out of the classroom. ... When it comes time to do laboratories, I've had to get kind of creative and have half the class do a lab while the other half [works at their desks], because I don't feel like the kids are safe when I have that many students to watch in a chemistry laboratory."

School districts asking for levies are worried primarily about how their failure could lead to staff cuts and even larger class sizes.

As Lakeville Superintendent Gary Amoroso put it, education is first and foremost "a people business."

Staff costs account for about 80 percent of a school district's budget.

Lakeville cut 104 full-time jobs last year, and Amoroso said that 115 more would likely be cut by next year if the levies don't pass. Class sizes could increase to between 27 to 35 students per class at the elementary schools, and 34 students at the high schools.

In Burnsville, Bane says students hate the stuffy classrooms.

"They come in and say, 'I hate this room, we can't move.'"

Programs and activities

When Karen Adams learned, earlier this fall, that Lakeville's competition cheerleading program could lose school funding if the levies don't pass, "It made me have a sick stomach, because I know how passionate my daughter is about it."

Competition cheerleading -- a more athletically demanding sport than the cheering that goes on at football games -- is on a list of programs the Lakeville school board has said it may ax if the levies fail.

"This is like my life," said Morgan Adams, a sophomore at Lakeville North High School who has cheered for nine years. "I've never done any other sport."

A majority of the program's budget already comes from booster clubs and the cheerleaders themselves, who can spend well over $1,000 a season on expenses such as travel to a national competition in Florida. But the district's contribution of $25,000 to the Lakeville North and South high school squads covers coach stipends, busing and -- crucially -- insurance.

Parents and cheerleaders may try to keep the program going even if it loses school funding, but "we're all very worried about it," Morgan said. In case they can't, "We're working very hard to make this a good year."

In order to avoid staff cuts, many districts go after elective classes and extracurricular programs, such as the competition cheerleading program, because they don't affect core subjects in the school day.

Lakeville also has the chess club at both of its high schools, the Youth in Government Program, and fall and spring intramurals on a possible list of cuts if the levies fail. The Early Bird program, which gives students a chance to take a class before school starts each day, could also be on the chopping block.

Facilities

In a farm field outside of Farmington, a $100 million high school is rising out of the ground. The community has waited three years after approving the funds for this school to see it take shape, and it's supposed to be ready for students by September 2009.

But the Farmington School District won't necessarily be ready for it. The district is telling voters that an operating levy needs to be passed -- either this year or next -- or the school can't open.

"We wouldn't have the operating dollars," said Farmington finance director Jeff Priess. "We need to protect the investment in that building."

The case is the same in south Savage, where the Prior Lake-Savage School District is building the $16.8 million Redtail Ridge Elementary, but there's no buffer time there. If the levy doesn't pass now, the school board says it won't open.

The districts say they don't want to get voter approval for the operating money for schools at the same time voters approve building funds because they can't predict how much will be needed years in advance, and taxpayers don't want their money sitting unused in district coffers.

Some community members see school district promises to keep buildings closed as idle threats.

"That's the biggest scare tactic that they're using," said Evan Kaneski, a member of the Citizens for Responsible Government group in Prior Lake. "They're saying, 'Oh, look, we built this school and now we can't open it unless you give us more money. On the other hand, they're also trying to say, 'Look at this, we've been fiscally responsible.'"

The Burnsville-Eagan-Savage school board says the district will close at least one school -- an elementary, a junior high, or one of each -- if the levy doesn't pass.

"No one wants to see their own school get closed," said Luth, the school board chairman. "I think that makes [the budget situation] very real to people ... it becomes a very personal thing."

Fees and transportation

For school districts faced with cutting millions of dollars from projected budgets for upcoming school years, a quick solution is finding a way to increase revenue.

Increasing fees is an option commonly used.

Lakeville told its voters this fall that high school parking fees could increase by $25 per semester, raising the cost of parking for a whole school year to $250.

High school athletic fees could increase by $80 to $230, and middle school fees could increase by $50 to $175.

State law says that school districts have to bus students to school if they live more than 2 miles away. Many districts provide services to students closer in, but that is slowly changing as schools look for non-classroom costs that they can get rid of.

Last year, Lakeville considered having elementary students who live less than 2 miles away from school walk, but the idea of the district's youngest students trekking through the snow that far on winter mornings quickly made the board reconsider and settle for an increase to just .8 miles.

It could be on the table again this year.

"At the beginning of the school year, it seemed like a great idea [for my kids] to bike or to walk," said Ann Wolf, who lost bus service for her two youngest children in Lakeville this fall. Once she saw the effort required to get them out of the door to get to school on time, and had to deal with inclement weather, she decided she would drive them.

"For me it's a minor inconvenience," she said, but "I think about what that's costing me in gas and time."

Sarah Lemagie contributed to this report.

Emily Johns • 612-518-9294

Emily Johns • ejohns@startribune.com