What’s next for the Crosby-Ironton School District?
By Jamie Skjeveland, Superintendent
Now that the operating referendum is a few weeks behind us, I want to reach out to our learning
community to extend my gratitude to all of you who took the time to get out to vote, and for your
consideration and time to make an informed decision on the district's recent request for an operating levy. The referendum question in November failed to pass by 35 votes. This is
incredibly disappointing to me and to our Ranger community.
I must share with you that we have a wonderful team of teachers and staff members who will
move forward from this moment and provide children every opportunity for an excellent public
school education that will prepare them for their future. In other words, as a public school
district, our fundamental responsibility of providing educational opportunities to students will
continue to be at the forefront of our priorities.
Now that we know the outcome of the failed operating referendum, our learning community now have some hard decisions to make as we move forward. Our budget deficit for next year is expected to be close to $1 million. The levy would have made up 7% of our operating budget. Because the referendum was not approved, we now have no choice but to make drastic reductions for the 2024-25 school year. However, no decisions have been made about what, exactly, will be cut, or how much of our savings (Fund Balance) we will use to maintain class sizes or preserve some of our programs.
It does take a community to build a Ranger, and we rely both on our community and the state of
Minnesota to provide the resources needed to teach kids. The operating levy would have been
used to focus on high priority teaching and learning initiatives, continued investment in
vocational and technical opportunities, and maintain college-prep at both the middle and high
school levels.
I believe that we would not be in this position, had funding from the state increased at the rate of inflation during the past decade. If that were the case, we would have received nearly $1.2
million more next school year alone. You may be aware that schools received an increase of 4%
for 2023-2024 and 2% for 2024-2025, on the general education school funding formula and
received some relief from the long-standing underfunding of mandated services for students with disabilities, which have forced districts to spend general funds to make up the difference.
These new state revenues, while helpful, are not sufficient to fully fund these and other state and federal mandates, to make up for decades where funding did not keep pace with inflation, or to make up for the recent period of high inflation, tight job markets, and other pandemic impacts. Those investments from the state were welcome but were never intended to close our budget deficit.
Despite this outcome, I do thank voters who sought information and made informed decisions. And, I believe there is common ground in supporting the needs of our children to inspire, innovate and excel.
The Crosby-Ironton School Board along with district leaders are looking at options on how to move forward. We may consider a broad process which will include staff and community members to help advise the board on what to do next. As we look forward, a future referendum may be an option.
I invite you to watch for updates as the school district decides on a decision-making process. I am interested in hearing your opinions on which program/s to cut from the school district’s budget. Please reach out to me with any ideas or questions at jskjeveland@ci.k12.mn.us or 218-545-8801.