Election 2023: Local school referendum breakdown

Election 2023: What to know about school referendums

Tuesday is the day you get to vote for change. As city council and mayor positions are just some of the things people will be voting for, they'll also be deciding on the future of local education.

(ABC 6 News) – Tuesday is the day you get to vote for change. As city council and mayor positions are just some of the things people will be voting for, they’ll also be deciding on the future of local education.

Children in Stewartville could see a lot of changes inside district schools. Depending on the result of Stewartville’s nearly $63 million referendum. If you vote ‘yes,’ the Central Education Center could be replaced with a new elementary school.

Related: Stewartville referendum breakdown: what the district is doing and what it means for you

“It needs to go,” said Teresa Angeli, a parent in the Stewartville School District.

“We’re lucky that it is sort of working right now, but it can’t last. Just the safety of it, the cooling, the heating. There’s so many things that are wrong with it that even if you tried to fix it up, the cost and constant upgrades you would need to happen to keep it going and keep it working for the kids, would be more than what you would get out of a new school.”

Other parts of question one include classroom updates and security improvements. The second question deals with about $7 million and adding an activities court for the newly proposed school. That can only pass if question one does.

“It has its needs and those needs are not going to go away, you can’t just ignore that,” said Angeli.

The last time the district had a referendum up for vote, people overwhelmingly voted against the $38 million bond.

Related: Grand Meadow Schools looks to make changes with a special election

In Grand Meadow, the district is also proposing two questions. First, just over $2 million to resurface dome exteriors and update HVAC systems.

“So it’s not the things that you see on the outside. But it’s these heat pumps and cooling pumps they run 24 hours, 7 days a week, 365. And they’re starting to wear out,” said Grand Meadow Superintendent Paul Besel.

If that’s a go, the district will use nearly $3 million to remodel existing space for a Pre-K program and to add a career education area.

Related: RPS technology tax levy to be on the ballot for voters

In Rochester, the focus is on school safety and cyber security. The school board wants to prevent another incident like a ransomware attack in April that impacted the district’s technology systems. The price tag to move forward would be just over $10 million.

“Even if I don’t have kids in the district or the school system, I have to contribute cause it’s our future,” said one parent.

Another added – “It’s an investment for our future city and the schools and teachers and kids. In the long term, these guys are gonna be the beneficiary of this.”

Part of the money will be used for technology security. $7 million would go to the school’s general fund.

It’s not coming without criticism. A member of Rochester’s Say No to the Taxman Committee has a civil lawsuit against the levy’s wording on the ballot.

Related: RPS on ballot question suit: ‘We look forward to the election’

The person behind it, Casey McGregor, argues the point that about $70 percent of the money raised would go to flex spending. Adding the project doesn’t describe or name the project most of the 10-year levy would support.

“I don’t want the public schools to fail but throwing more money at the schools is not the solution. They need to run the schools differently with a focus on academics,” said John Whelan, the Principal of the committee.

In response, RPS Superintendent Kent Pekel said:

“The ballot question exactly identifies the technology services that it will go for. I think there’s a misunderstanding in the lawsuit that suggests a capital projects levy needs to go for a one specific project, that term is used to really describe equipment and material that supports the work of the school district.”

ABC 6 will have team coverage throughout election day. Stay tuned on-air and online for the latest developments.