By Joanna Miller, Staff Writer

The Prior Lake-Savage Area School Board will move forward with a two-question referendum ballot this fall.

Discussion ended Monday in a 4-3 vote by the divided board, which selected a resolution after months of debate.

Now, voters will be asked to decide whether or not to approve two referendum questions for a 10-year period with no inflationary increase.

Board Chairwoman Lee Shimek urged the board to move ahead with a decision Monday to allow time to educate voters on the issues.

“I think we need to make the best decision we can with the information we have,” Shimek said.

The first question will ask for a renewal of the existing $841 per pupil unit levy and an additional $210 per pupil unit.

This will reinstate the existing levy and increase the levy in order to open Redtail Ridge Elementary School.

The second question will ask for an additional $90 per pupil unit to further address class-size reduction.

New Superintendent Sue Ann Gruver said the split vote showed the board cares about being fiscally responsible.

“You can really hear the wishing and hoping we can get this one passed,” Gruver said. “There was no wrong answer here. I think there’s more value tonight in the 4-3 vote…We know you’ve had to sit through all the cuts this spring. It’s a difficult time for our organization. I know all of you will stand behind the decision and choice that was made tonight.”

Gruver pointed out that the board has “sharpened its pencil” by asking for less than half of what it requested from voters last fall.

The estimated impact of the first referendum question, should voters approve it this fall, would keep $7 million in the district’s current budget, plus add $1.65 million in new revenue.

The district could add nearly 11 staff members to open Redtail Ridge Elementary, which would address elementary class sizes district-wide.

An additional two staff members may be hired with funds to further reduce class sizes where needed in grades K-12.

The district anticipates a one-student increase in the average class sizes for grades K-12, even with the first question passing.

The second referendum question could generate $700,000 in new revenue to add an additional 11 staff members, equaling approximately 1.25 staff members per building. This would reduce class sizes by an average of .8 students per K-12 classroom.

Swaying decisions

Board Member Dee Dee Francis changed her stance on the referendum questions since the June 23 board meeting. At the last meeting, she said three questions were preferable. Francis cited survey information presented by the “Say Yes” Committee that indicated voters are only 28-percent likely to approve second or third questions on a ballot.

An initial question has more than a 50-percent passage rate, they said.

“I’m leaning more towards two [questions],” Francis said Monday. “I’m from a science background…We paid for that survey, and that’s kind of what the survey said. That’s really what kind of swayed me.”

Francis agreed with Board Member Eric Pratt, that it isn’t worth the cost to keep Redtail Ridge sitting empty, and that it should be included in the first question.

“It costs us to keep the school open and mothballed,” she said.

At the June 23 meeting, Board Members Francis, Chris Lind, and Diane Ziemann spoke in favor of a three-question referendum, while Board Members Shimek, Pratt and Tom Anderson opted for a two-question referendum. At that meeting, absent Board Member Michael Murray indicated his preference for a three-part question through comments to Shimek.

However, with Francis’ change in position Monday, the two-question referendum gained majority and passed, 4-3.

While Francis was persuaded of a new perspective, Lind, Ziemann and Murray maintained that reducing the referendum to two questions was too much risk.

Murray said last year’s referendum was the time to take risks, and that the public had spoken with a levy that failed by 60 percent.

“It was resoundingly defeated,” Murray said.

Murray noted that putting the levy renewal and Redtail Ridge funding items together in the first question could increase opposition.

Citizens for Accountable Government, a group of residents that spoke out against last fall’s referendum, indicated previously that members may not support a question including more than a levy renewal.

“That’s one more group of folks we can count on not counting on,” Murray said. “We keep wading more and more into the deep end of the pool.”

Murray also said that in a presidential election year, more uninformed voters could be at the polls.

“I think we’re going to have to be able to get more people to vote yes than in any previous levy or bond. That’s a tall hill to climb. We’re in a lot of trouble if we roll the dice and they come up the wrong way in November,” he said.

“There’s going to be more uninformed voters showing up in November. As we saw last year, there were a lot of people…who didn’t know the full story,” Murray added.

Lind said his mind hadn’t been changed by survey information.

“I was not persuaded. I really believe the public would like to have choice. I feel like the three questions gives a lot of choice to a lot of groups who want choice,” Lind said. “It hasn’t swayed me.”

On the other side of the fence, Anderson didn’t flounder from his stance that the referendum should include two questions.

“We need to renew [the levy] and we need to open that school. The class sizes are getting outrageous,” Anderson said.

Ziemann continued with her opinion that three questions would send a clear message to voters.

“By having three questions, how much clearer can we get?” Ziemann asked.

Shimek said she opted for two questions because it stayed within the cost parameters indicated through the survey while adding the increase, and it allows for residents to support funding beyond what the survey indicated through a second question.

“I feel like I’m jumping from one hot plate to another in this discussion,” Shimek said.

While Murray and Ziemann used gambling references for the two-question option, Pratt said not asking voters for more in the first question was more of a risk.

 “I think it’s more of a gamble to split them than to have them together,” Pratt said. “We are elected to represent the community…We are saying these are our core needs and are fundamental to where we’re going.”

 Joanna Miller can be reached at (952) 345-6375 or jmiller@swpub.com [2].