The Randolph School Board met on Monday, Aug. 17, where it worked through the presentation it plans to give the Randolph community on the need to put forward an operational levy referendum this fall. Superintendent Michael Kelley gave a preliminary presentation to the board at the Aug. 17 meeting and solicited feedback from the board members and administration present.
The district plans to hold three public information meetings open to the community about the referendum this fall where school officials will go over the need for the referendum and answer questions. Those meetings are scheduled for Tuesday, Sept. 22, at 7 p.m; Tuesday, Oct. 13, at 9 a.m; and Thursday, Oct. 22, at 7 p.m. All three meetings will be held in the school commons.
Randolph Schools is asking the community to approve a $450 per pupil increase in student funding through the operational levy, which would come to about $390,000 each year in additional revenue for a term of 10 years. An operational levy is for the day-to-day operations of a district for areas like employment, utilities, supplies, technology, extracurriculars, etc. It is not for building a new school, which would require a bond referendum.
Kelley talked through the following acronym to explain why the district needs to go out for a referendum, WORKS: W-Why now?; O-Operating referendum; R-Relief during COVID; K-K-12 enrollment; and S-Sustainability. He explained that state funding for schools has not kept up with inflation/costs and unfunded mandates by the state – requirements the districts have to meet/provide but do not receive funding from the state and have to bear the costs for..
Kelley said that the district was looking at having to ask for an operational levy referendum back before COVID started, but the influx of students who enrolled at Randolph during the pandemic brought in funding which delayed that need until now. However, in the aftermath of the pandemic, Randolph’s enrollment has started to normalize as the incoming/younger classes are not as large as those that have been graduating. The trend of students pursuing alternate learning paths like online,PSEO, homeschooling, etc continue to gain momentum and those trends will only continue to affect not only Randolph’s enrollment, but enrollment numbers statewide.
Included in the presentation were examples of the unfunded mandates from the state and how much they cost Randolph Schools. It also went through measures the district took and is taking to reduce costs while not having much impact on students. Kelley emphasized that the operational levy is to maintain a sustainable and responsible budget, not for expansion of services or offerings.
Minnesota state law allows school districts to levy up to $724 per pupil without having to go to their communities for a referendum. Randolph historically has not met that threshold and instead sits at about $625. That is the lowest dollar amount per pupil among area schools. The closest is St. Clair, which has an operational levy of $558 above that $724 number, or $657 above Randolph. New Prague is $757 above that $724 benchmark (or the zero mark on the graph in the presentation); Triton is $750 but also has a capital project levy of $659 for a total of $1,409; Goodhue is $800; Kenyon-Wanamingo is $1,059; Zumbrota-Mazeppa is $1,324; Cannon Falls is $1,450 plus a capital project levy of $477 for a total of $1,927; Red Wing is $1,650; Hastings is $1,757 plus a capital project levy of $515 for a total of $2,272; Farmington is $1,960 and Northfield is $2,257 plus a capital project levy of $556 for a total of $2,813.
Randolph’s ask of a $450 per pupil increase would be on top of reaching that $724 threshold but still the lowest among all those schools.
Agricultural land and buildings are not taxed as part of an operational levy. Only residential homesteads, apartments/other residential properties, and commercial and industrial property are taxed. For farms, only the house, garage and one acre are taxed. For a home valued at $350,000, the annual taxes would go up to $254, or $21 a month. A full table of different home values and increases is included in the presentation.
The referendum coincides with the general election on Tuesday, Nov. 3. If it passes, the school board would certify the election results in a meeting following and residents would see the first tax impacts in 2027. The district would not see the resulting revenue until the 2027-2028 school year.
The full verbiage that will appear on people’s ballots in November is: “The school board of Independent School District No. 195 (Randolph Public Schools) has proposed to increase its general education revenue by $450 per pupil. The proposed referendum revenue authorization would be applicable for ten years beginning with taxes payable in 2027, and increase each year by the rate of inflation beginning with taxes payable in 2028, unless otherwise revoked or reduced as provided by law. Shall the increase in the revenue proposed by the school board of Independent School District No. 195 be approved? By voting ‘Yes’ on this ballot question, you are voting for a property tax increase. Yes or No.”
Another question which will be on the ballot statewide is a Minnesota constitutional amendment whether or not to change how the Permanent School Fund, a statewide fund that already provides a small amount of funding to all Minnesota school districts, disburses its funds. This is not related to the district’s operational levy referendum and would see the district receive an additional $23,000. If voters leave the question about the Permanent school Fund blank, it counts as a “no” vote.
Other quick hits from the meeting