Wednesday was a "bleak" day for the Lake Superior school district, said Superintendent Phil Minkkinen, and this winter probably will be a chilly one for district students.
That's because after voters rejected a $950 per-pupil operating levy on Tuesday, the district has to find a way to plug a $1.3 million budget shortfall, Minkkinen said. One target will be the district's thermostats, he said.
Voters also rejected a $450-per-pupil operating levy in the Wrenshall school district, while results for the St. Louis County schools' operating levy were too close to call by the end of Wednesday, Superintendent Charles Rick said.
Students and staff in the Ely school district were the only ones in Northeastern Minnesota who had clear cause to celebrate. Voters narrowly approved a $900 per-pupil levy after narrowly rejecting a levy less than half that amount in 2005.
Ely Schools Superintendent Tom Bruels credited the team that set out to educate the public about the levy's importance with helping to earn enough votes.
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"We're gratified that the hard work by the volunteers on the A+ Education Committee paid off," Bruels said.
Minkkinen wasn't sure what more he and other district staffers could have done to promote his district's levy. He and school board members spoke at 42 informational meetings throughout the far-flung district. He said district employees were "cautiously optimistic" about the levy's chances going into Election Day.
"No one I talked to thought the results would be so lop-sided," Minkkinen said. The levy failed by a wide margin.
The Lake Superior School Board will discuss its options at a workshop in Two Harbors today.
Doing nothing is not an option, Minkkinen said.
"We'll be broke by the end of the year," he said, and if nothing else changes, the district will slide into statutory operating debt by 2008.
Wrenshall School District Superintendent Shawn Northey said he and other school staffers also will be making some hard choices.
"We'll be struggling for another year, and going deeper into our savings," Northey said on Wednesday. The district has a $150,000 budget shortfall.
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Northey tried to find a silver lining in Tuesday's elections.
Unfunded educational mandates have hit many districts hard, he said. With control of the U.S. House of Representatives and perhaps the U.S. Senate changing, school districts might find some relief, he said.
But in the near future, Northey was disheartened by Tuesday's defeat.
"It will hurt the kids, and what we have to provide for them," he said. "It's not going to kill them, but it does leave a bad taste, knowing we can do things for our kids, but we won't have the resources."
JANNA GOERDT covers the communities surrounding Duluth. She can be reached weekdays at (218) 279-5527 or by e-mail at jgoerdt@duluthnews.com .
