GLENWOOD -- The Minnewaska Area School District is asking voters to decide on a $629 per student operating levy as part of the Nov. 7 general election.
The levy would generate about $700,000 per year for 10 years, according to Minnewaska Superintendent Greg Ohl.
The district's current levy is just 40 cents per student. This is the fourth attempt in five years to increase the operating levy at the Minnewaska district.
Funding shortages and declining enrollment and therefore, state aid, have forced the district to make significant budget cuts over the past several years. The Villard Academy, one of the district's elementary schools, was closed and sold. The Starbuck Elementary school was closed and has been renamed Minnewaska West and houses the alternative high school, early childhood education and Head Start, and a day treatment program. Elementary students from kindergarten to grade 4 have been consolidated to the Glenwood school, which has been renamed Minnewaska Area Elementary. The fifth- and sixth-grade students have been moved to the Minnewaska Area High School.
In addition, the district has cut more than 30 teachers, plus administrative and support staff, reduced bus routes and high school class offering and increased fees for activities.
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One of the factors in the funding issues is enrollment, which is currently 1,232 students, which is a 2 to 3 percent decline. A pattern of taking in 80 kindergarteners and graduating 120 seniors is expected to continue for four more years, Ohl said.
Voters rejected levy requests in 2002 and 2003 and in 2004, turned down a $889 per student request. The decision to ask voters to approve the levy was not taken lightly by the school board, Ohl said.
"With the financial conditions, we needed to have the referendum, there is a hole in the budget," he said. "We want to operate in the black, but we also don't want to financially handicap families."
The average home in the district, valued at $100,000, will be assessed for $119 more per year if the levy passes.
The board decided to go for the state average for the levy, instead of repeating much higher previous levy requests, according to Heidi Roggenkamp, the chair of the Minnewaska school board. The board is hoping the voters will find the average levy more palatable.
The funds will go directly to the education of students, she said. The board has prioritized directe education changes, such as reducing class sizes from the current 27-28 students in third and fourth grades and 24-25 students in kindergarten and preserving high school electives, advanced placement and college credit courses. "The money will go directly to the kids in the classroom," she said.
Student performance has remained high throughout the difficult financial times. Minnewaska can claim the highest graduation rate, 99 percent, of any high school in the state. ACT scores are also high, Roggenkamp said.
"We are doing well all the way around and we want to continue that, but it costs money," she said.
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The district may or may not be in Statutory Operating Debt status with the state department of education, Ohl said. That determination will be made after the district's audit. Statutory operating debt occurs when the net unappropriated operating fund balance at year-end is a negative amount that exceeds 2.5 percent of operating
