Roseau School District 682 Referendum on the Ballot for November 5

by Ryan Honl

School District 682 voters will have a say on their ballot November 5 on a referendum that provides additional operating funding per student through an increase in local taxes. The question on the ballot before those voters is:

"The board of Independent School District No. 682 (Roseau Public Schools), Minnesota has proposed to increase the School District's general education revenue by $1,050 per pupil, subject to an annual increase at the rate of inflation. The proposed new referendum revenue authorization would be first levied in 2024 for taxes payable in 2025 and applicable for ten (10) years unless otherwise revoked or reduced as provided by the law. Shall the new referendum authorization proposed by the board of Independent School District No. 682 (Roseau Public Schools), Minnesota be approved? Passage of this referendum will result in an increase in your property taxes."

The current estimated operating referendum allowance is $227 per pupil for District 682. That referendum is set to expire in the middle of 2025. According to Superintendent Jerome the school board can reauthorize that for another 10 years without public approval. The November 5 referendum is for a $1,050 increase so if both referendums are in effect for 10 years the total operating cost per pupil would be $1,277.

Superintendent Tom Jerome stated there would have to be significant changes should the referendum fail. Currently there are approximately 20 students per classroom. That could go as high as 29 students if the number of teachers needed to be reduced to remain in budget.

"There's no spin here at all," said Jerome. "Our options right now are to seek additional revenue or we're going to have to make reductions. And when we do that we're gonna see our class sizes go up. It's just how it is. It's real life."

Many societal impacts have hit the schools hard and costs for the district have risen significantly. Superintendent Jerome shared an October 2024 article from the Minnesota School Boards Association titled "Student Enrollment Trends: Drop in birth rate will hurt enrollment, funding for schools."

The article states that students going into kindergarten at 5 years old showed a total population of 70,536 (in the state) in 2022. Those numbers are more than 2,000 fewer students than in 2020. Those lower numbers bleed into the grades that follow.

"It looks unlikely that school districts will see more money from per-pupil enrollment over the next five years as birth rates continue to decline," the article states.

Another impact on school funding is high inflation. Schools incur increasing operating costs just like the rest of society. The high inflation rate since the pandemic has added unexpected inflation to previously approved referendums where those amounts stay the same. The November 5 referendum provides that its funds will adjust to inflation.

"We are not unique," Superintendent Jerome said. "There are districts all over the state including around us like Thief River Falls that are running an operating referendum. They've had to cut over $2 million in expenditures in the last couple years. They cut a number of teachers. They've reduced the number of extracurricular activities that are scheduled. They no longer play full schedules. They've limited their travel. They've eliminated some bussing for students. So they've done a lot. One of the things I like to tell our parents, whenever a school does a big building project often times people will think, 'Oh they've built a big school and now they can't afford to pay for it and they have to run a referendum.' We did not exceed budget. We were under budget slightly. That is completely separate. Just a complete non factor."

State budgets have gotten tighter. They closed and sunset-ed some funds three years ago. Those dollars were bridging the gap for operating costs. The district has been deficit spending the last three years. If the money the district has in savings drops to zero then the district would go into statutory debt which would force future referendums outside of the regular election cycle.

Should the referendum pass property taxes would rise starting in 2025. The operating revenue would remain in effect for 10 years.

Agricultural property would pay taxes based only on the value of the house, garage, and one acre. Seasonal recreational residential property such as cabins would pay no taxes for the proposed referendum.

The district uses Ehler's Public Finance Advisors that provides information for taxpayers of District 682 regarding how the istrict's operating referendum may affect individual property taxes. That information along with links to tax calculators are available on the district's website at https://www.roseau.k12.mn.us/o/rcsd/page/operating-referendum.

For example, property valued at $200,000 would have a yearly tax increase of $407 or $34 a month.

Asking Superintendent Jerome what his final thoughts are on the referendum he said, "We are going to make every effort to maintain what we have for as long as we can. If this fails we come back next November for another operating referendum. We don't have a choice. We are fighting for our students in this building to maintain the level of education our community has always offered. One thing I know is that our community supports our school district so I want our public to know that we have always respected our working relationship with families in our district. For us there is no coming back from this. If it doesn't pass we'll do what we have to do next year. The state comes in to put in a plan to put us back into solvency and we'd go from there."

There is one more open meeting before the election for making public comment on Tuesday, October 29, at 6p.m. in the Roseau School Band Room.