FAQ

Voters within the Chisago Lakes School District will consider a two-question referendum on Tuesday, November 7 to address educational and facilities needs.

• Question One asks voters to consider a plan to invest $23,285,000 million in bond funding in renovations to security, safety, and long-term maintenance projects.
   
• Question Two asks voters for an additional $355 per pupil levy. The levy would go towards educational and student support staff.

Question One requests $23,285,000 million in bonding for security, safety, and long-term maintenance investments in our schools. The plan includes secure entrances at the Taylor Falls Elementary, Middle, and High School, improved accessibility and security of the third floor at the
Middle School, an addition at the Primary School, high-priority maintenance projects, and creating more accessible, age-appropriate bathrooms at the Middle School and Taylors Falls Elementary.

Question Two asks for a $355 per pupil operating levy. These funds will be used to address the needs of students, staff, parents, and community members, such as investing in educational and student support staff, maintaining smaller class sizes, sustaining programing and services. For more information, visit the Plan Page.

The district facilitated an eight-month process in 2022 to evaluate the needs of our students, teachers, and facilities. The process included feedback from staff, administrators, and community members, giving us time to think critically about prioritizing the needs of our students
and staff.

After last Fall’s election in 2022, it was clear that we needed to reevaluate our plan. We heard you and are bringing back a smaller dollar amount to help maintain some staffing, programs, and services.

Over the past 5 years, the district has made approximately $5 million in budget cuts to balance the budget. With the additional operational levy, the dollars would help to support staffing, programs, and services that directly impact learning.

This ask is considerably lower than what we asked in the Fall of 2022 election.  This is intentional as we heard your voice clearly stating that we asked for too much in the Fall of 2022. This smaller ask will address some of our needs, but just like all of you, we will have to make adjustments every year to balance our budget while still meeting our current needs.

At the same time, our facility needs are not going to go away, and construction costs are likely to increase the longer the district waits to address them. If voters approve the bond levy, students and staff will have safer and more secure schools with room to expand and keep class sizes reasonable. More importantly, addressing these facility needs now will keep costs low and address issues, depending upon the project, for the next 25 years.

If the operating levy doesn’t pass, the district will be faced with an operating budget deficit ahead of the 2025-26 school year that could impact staffing levels, class sizes, and student programming. Without an increase in funding, this budget deficit would lead to future programming cuts. The school board would re-engage our communities to determine the next steps, but future cuts are inevitable without a plan for financial support.

If the bond doesn’t pass, the school board would seek to develop a revised investment plan to fund building improvements and maintenance and present that to voters in the future.

If voters approve the operating levy question, the school board would decide where to invest those dollars to make the most impact on students, staff, parents, and community members. For more information and a description of current priorities, please visit the Plan Page.

If voters approve the referendum, the district will purchase bonds to finance the proposed projects. For more details, please visit the Plan Page.

Research is clear, strong schools equals strong communities.  In recent studies, there is a direct correlation between communities that have great schools equates to home owners seeing higher values on their properties. We also see research talk about good schools fostering safer environments which include reductions in crime.  Finally, successful schools like Chisago Lakes bring revenue to the community in new families who buy local and stay local.  Our economy thrives when the schools succeed. 

The school board has concluded that we can’t cut our way to success. Under this plan, the district would invest in our biggest educational asset: teachers and student support staff. Doing so will help maintain class sizes, create more customized learning opportunities for students, and meet the mental health needs of every student. Technology would also be used not to replace, but to enhance hands-on learning in the classroom.

With the bond funds, we would fund a classroom addition, address maintenance issues and upgrade building safety and security. These investments would provide our students with quality learning environments and keep class sizes small to provide the support each student needs to succeed.

An operating levy is a property tax that helps fund a district’s operating budget, which pays for the day-to-day functions of the school district. This includes staffing, student programming and services, and supplies. If approved, the operating levy increase for Chisago Lakes School District would be in place for a 10-year period, and voters would need to re-authorize the operating levy for it to continue.

The State of Minnesota provides a majority of funding for local schools, but for most school districts in the state, this level of support isn’t enough to cover the costs of student services and educational programming. That is why 70% of school districts across the state rely on funding from local operating levies to bridge the gap.

The average operational levy amount for Minnesota Districts is $860. Chisago Lakes is currently at $225.

Inflation affects schools, too. Over the past decade, per-pupil reimbursement from the State of Minnesota has not kept up with rising costs and inflation, forcing schools across the state to do more with less.

Currently, that difference is $1,243 per student. If the state kept up with the cost of inflation, we would have an additional $4,147,891. With that additional amount, we would not have to go out to our taxpayers for operational levies.

To combat the lack of adequate funding, many districts across the state have turned to voter-approved operating levy increases. Levy increases allow communities to take matters into their own hands and provide schools with the support they need to maintain their operations.

A bond referendum is an election that allows local residents to decide whether a school district should incur debt by issuing bonds to fund improvements to the district’s facilities. Approval of the referendum gives the district the ability to make large-scale improvements more efficiently than using the yearly maintenance budget.

School districts issue bonds to obtain the funds necessary to pay for construction and professional services. The district pays back the bonds over a fixed period of years with revenue from property taxes and aid received from the state. In the last 10 years, 226 Minnesota school districts have passed bond referenda to finance construction projects.

Like a mortgage, bonds allow all necessary investments to be made immediately while paying off the cost over a set number of years. Because construction costs increase over time, it is less expensive to pay the interest on bonds than to complete construction one step at a time over multiple years.

Minnesota provides a majority of funding for schools, this level of support isn’t enough to cover all the costs of student services and educational programming. Seventy percent of school districts across the state rely on operating levies to avoid budget cuts.

Similarly, when a district is unable to complete large-scale maintenance projects solely by relying on their annual maintenance budget or existing levy authority, they can use bonding to do so. State law requires that voters approve large bond projects.

No. The operating levy would be in place for a 10-year period, and voters would need to reauthorize it for the district to continue using it as a revenue source. The bond levy would be in place for a 19-year period and will pay for $23,285,000 million in bonding for building improvements in that time.