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Administrator’s Corner by Jennifer Walsh

Albert Lea Area Schools has an important question on the Nov. 2 ballot. The current voter-approved operating referendum is scheduled to expire with taxes payable in 2021 unless renewed on Tuesday.

Public school financing is complicated in Minnesota. We receive revenue from three primary sources: state aid, federal aid and local levies (property taxes). Historically the local levy component has generated approximately 11% of the total revenue.  For taxes payable in 2021, the school district levy is $9,089,710. If the vote passes Tuesday, the school district levy for taxes payable in 2022 will be almost identical.

The district levy is broken into three categories: general fund, community education and debt service. Over 60% of the levy revenue is subject to restricted uses such as the debt service payments on voter-approved bonds, our community education programs including Early Childhood Family Education, facilities maintenance, safe schools, operating capital, career/technical education, etc. The remainder, including the amount generated by the operating referendum, can be used for general operations such as overhead costs, staff salaries and instructional supplies.

If the ballot question fails, the district will lose approximately $2 million  in funding for the ’22-23 school year. In order to balance the budget, we will have to identify ways to raise other revenue and cut costs. There are few options for a school district to increase revenue substantially; therefore, most of the solution will be reducing expenditures.  Over 80% of the $50 million budget is wages and benefits, so a substantial portion of reductions will be decreasing personnel. This will mean larger class sizes and loss of electives.

As a reminder, the ballot question is simply a renewal of an existing operating referendum; the district is not asking for a tax increase. We thank you for taking the time to vote on Nov. 2.

Jennifer Walsh is the director of finance and operations for Albert Lea Area Schools.