We&8217;ve listened to people in conversations debating the Albert Lea school levy and read letter after letter in this newspaper.

Some folks make a deal over some teacher they didn&8217;t like. Some people say they are upset over some coaching decision from a long time ago. Some just plain don&8217;t like the administration. Some don&8217;t like school board members for one reason or another. Some say they are mad because their child wasn&8217;t told some tidbit of important information. Some feel the school officials are wrongly using kids to scare voters. Some don&8217;t understand Minnesota school funding woes and are mad about having a referendum in the first place. Some say failure to meet some areas of Annual Yearly Progress is a reason to vote no. Still others are upset over losing the old high school. Some are even upset over the new high school.

Plainly speaking, this referendum is not a popularity contest.

The ballot doesn&8217;t ask you to vote yes or no on whether you like Albert Lea Area Schools. The ballot doesn&8217;t ask you to vote yes or no whether the district, in your estimation, is doing a good job.

The ballot asks you whether the kids you know should get a good education.

Think of the kids you know: sons, daughters, grandchildren, cousins, nieces, nephews, kids down the street, the paper carrier, the server at the restaurant, the clerk at the store, the smiling faces we meet through our day. Do they deserve a good education?

True, St. Paul should not have put local voters in this situation to decide. In the old days, school districts didn&8217;t need to ask voters so often for levies to pay for basic education because St. Paul did its part.

It doesn&8217;t anymore.

But voting no on Nov. 6 doesn&8217;t fix that. Voting yes keeps things going until the day St. Paul gets its act together.

Some people argue the district needs to cut from the top down. It has. How far can a district reasonably go? Schools don&8217;t run themselves. Do voters honestly want the school board to fire the principals and the superintendent to save money? Albert Lea would be the laughingstock of public education.

There is no fat. There is only muscle and bone left to cut.

The school officials aren&8217;t trying to scare people. These cuts will be real. Teachers will be fired. Classes will be bigger. Many extracurriculars will be gone or severely reduced.

You will be shocked at what happens if this proposed levy fails. You might even see four-day weeks. You might see an elementary school close. Many people who have moved here because of the schools will move away &8212; not the next day, but over time.

Look. Forget all the distractions and petty stuff. Vote to support Albert Lea schoolchildren, then ask your state leaders to fix the messed-up school funding system.