Below is a collection of questions about the 2021 Referendum. New FAQs will be added as needed and noted to when they were added.
What happens if the referendum is approved? |
If both questions are approved, the district would move forward with building update plans with design work beginning immediately. Our facilities would be upgraded with modern learning in mind and a number of deferred maintenance, safety and security, and Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) needs would be addressed at both buildings. Our sites, stadium, and track would all be upgraded to provide our district with facilities that can continue to serve our students for decades to come.
|
What happens if Question 1 is approved but Question 2 is not? |
We will be able to update our classroom spaces at both buildings, address a number of important deficiencies and prepare our buildings for success for years to come. Our athletic facilities however will not be upgraded and will continue to deteriorate. Our track has seen issues lately with portions of it sinking. We made temporary fixes, but the track will require additional investment of around $650,000 regardless of the outcome of the referendum. We would not be operating with an additional gym which will continue to cause issues for scheduling.
|
When would the implementation timeline be if the referendum is approved? |
If both questions are approved, project design would begin immediately with bidding taking place in May of 2022. Construction would commence in the summer of 2022, with the entire project being completed by the summer of 2024.
|
What happens if neither of the referendum questions are approved? |
If neither of the questions are approved, our buildings and outdoor facilities will continue to be in rough shape. In order to take on major projects like what is currently required, school districts need voter approval. Our classrooms would still be outdated and unable to meet today's educational standards and student learning would be impacted every day. Outdoor facilities will still require replacement, and at some point won't be usable. We would likely have to bring another proposal to voters in the future and due to historic low interest rates currently, it would almost certainly be more expensive to make these same improvements in future years.
|
How do our school taxes compare to our neighbors? |
Our local school taxes are low compared to our neighboring districts. For residential properties, we have the lowest school taxes of all of our neighbors. If both referendum questions are approved, we would move to the middle of the pack. The tax impact for agricultural properties in the district would be in the middle of our neighbors.
|
What is the difference between a bond and an operating levy? |
Bonds are for buildings. Levies are for learning. An operating referendum is an election asking voters to provide funds that the district uses to run and operate its schools. An operating levy is for running the educational programs at the school and goes to the district’s general fund to support students.
Bond levies are for funds that the school district uses for new construction, updates to existing facilities, and other additions to school properties. Each fund remains separate and cannot be used for another purpose. Voters in Central Public Schools approved operating and technology levies in 2019 that are used for district operations including teaching, learning, staffing, and technology investments. Operating and technology levies cannot be used for building projects. |
How do schools impact the community? |
According to the National Bureau of Economic Research, there is a definite correlation between school expenditures and home values in any given neighborhood. A report titled, “Using Market Valuation to Assess Public School Spending,” found that for every dollar spent on public schools in a community, home values increased $20. These findings indicate that additional school expenditures may benefit everyone in the community, whether or not those residents actually have children in the local public school system.
|
Can I deduct the taxes paid on my State and Federal Income Taxes? |
If you itemize deductions for federal income taxes, you may deduct all property taxes paid.
|
Does farm property receive some tax relief? |
Yes, for decades, farm families paid school operating levies on 1 acre of property that included the house, but paid school bond levies on all property. In 2017, the Minnesota Legislature approved a 40 percent tax credit for farm land school bond taxes. In 2019, the legislature approved higher tax credits to be phased in over time:
|
What do enrollment trends look like in the district? |
We have experienced steady enrollment over the last 6 years and (like most districts, saw a slight dip last year due to COVID-19). We are forecasting continued steady enrollment and future growth with the Highway 212 expansion which will facilitate easier access to our district.
|
Why not build new? |
In addressing current facility issues, the school board decided that renovations are the most cost-effective solution for our facilities. Our current buildings were built to last. We determined that some improvements are needed in order to serve our students for decades to come.
|
Didn’t voters already approve technology investments in the 2019 referendum? |
Voters did support a capital levy for technology upgrades in 2019. These funds have made a huge difference for our district. We saw an increase of $350,000 for technology, and about $240,000 is fixed costs including staffing, subscriptions to various platforms, and device leases. We chose to lease devices because repairs are free if they get damaged.
Other initiatives funded by the 2019 levy include:
|
How did our facilities get into such bad shape? |
Our buildings were built to last and we have a great maintenance team who found ways to keep things going beyond their standard life expectancy. There are upgrades that couldn’t be done due to lack of funding, but we found ways to continue to utilize the space. We are fortunate that the buildings are still able to be improved in a way that will set them up for the next generation and will be taking initiative to replace old and inefficient systems. These improvements will not only improve the overall appeal of our buildings, but will result in reduced operating costs for general maintenance.
|
Why is the referendum plan a 25 year bond? |
The district made the decision to go with the 25-year debt schedule based on the relatively small difference between the 25 year and 20 year borrowing rates (less than 15 basis points) coupled with a lower impact on the current generation of taxpayers. In other words, this approach will cost taxpayers less annually, and will cost taxpayers nearly the same amount in total.
|
Why did property assessments increase recently? |
Has anyone noticed that the housing market is hot, hot, HOT? And that includes our community. The last couple of years home sales have increased due to low mortgage rates and other factors including a low housing supply which creates a higher demand. The result is homes are selling for more money which results in higher property values. When your assessed home value increases, so do your taxes.
|
What happened to the money the district received from COVID-19 assistance? |
This funding started with very strict guidelines which loosened a bit throughout the process.
Most of the funding was dedicated to continuity of programming, allowing school districts to maintain staffing levels. Central Public Schools restructured last year by eliminating a principal position. Much of the money was designated for summer programs, which will allow us to provide summer school bussing for the next four years, which will save the district about $36,000 per year. The rest of the money was spent for initiatives like PPE, hiring subs, keeping our child care open for Tier 1 workers from March to September of 2020, keeping community ed staff employed, hot spots for kids who had a lack of connectivity, cleaning products and devices, new MERV air filters, increased custodial time for cleaning, increased bussing costs to comply with new COVID bussing standards, increased athletic/activity bussing costs to separate teams, hiring a paras for recess duty because we had to separate (cohort) groups, increased time for paraprofessionals that needed to watch kids from 730 to 800 and 300-330 every day to accommodate the 2 tier bussing service we put in place, and other things. COVID-19 assistance funding cannot be used for building projects outside of specific uses. |
The state just gave schools a large amount of money, why do you need more? |
In 2021, the state approved an increase in the state formula that determines how much money schools get based on the number of students in a district and other factors. The formula increase is 2.45 percent for the 2021-22 school year and 2 percent for the following year. In addition, schools will receive $10.4 million in reimbursements for special education costs (on average, $31,515 per district), $4 million (statewide) over the next two years for programs for students for whom English isn’t the primary language spoken at home, and $33.5 million (statewide) over the next two years for programs that aim to attract, train and retain non-white teachers.
We are very happy to have the additional funding - every revenue increase helps. However, the formula increase is still just a bit over the rate of inflation, and, over time, state revenue increases are still far below what the rate of inflation is. Essentially, this means we are in continuous budget reduction mode unless additional revenue, such as an increase in local property tax, is found. |