The recent defeat of the ACGC levy referendum is now a statement of fact. It does lead to concern for its school district students in regard to financial cuts that need to be made. A number of points could be made why, perhaps, the majority of voters said "no."
These may include:
n A public perception of not managing resources on the part of its superintendent and school board -- data and demographic projections about decreased and further decreasing enrollment combined with spending not at par with numbers of students.
n Double salary dispensation -- not only paying the incumbent superintendent at her contracted annual salary of over six figures, but then voting to hire another such administrator (even if not full time) to take over lead administrative duties with the incumbent not yielding to stepping aside as a "vote of confidence" acquiescence.
n Minimal, if any, cuts to the venerable "sacred cow" program called athletics or sports.
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n Little confidence in the overall school board to make even future decisions on governance of the public educational needs of district students.
n In spite of a franchise-determined "no" vote, the persistence to keep pushing the vote again and again in spite of mailing and voting-related financial costs to make the debt even worse.
n Residents becoming tired of unfair school funding across the state of Minnesota where local control could lead to possible financial woes versus equitable state funding across school districts even if sales or other taxes needed to be raised a portion of a percent.
Surely other possible reasons could be given. These are just points to ponder. Voting behavior is multi-faceted. It might be possible with a new political party in control of our Legislature to help, in some measure, school districts like ACGC that are in crisis.
Randy Wehler
Spicer
