New Sartell high school: confusion at the polls

New+High+School+during+construction+process%2C+Photo+captured+by+Journalist%2C+Cody+Neitzke

Cody Neitzke

New High School during construction process, Photo captured by Journalist, Cody Neitzke

Photo of New High School being built.

Last November, the Sartell School Board put out a vote for the operating levy for the new Sartell high school. The vote did not pass and the failure is now leaving many to wonder: why it did not pass and what is going to happen if the levy does not pass in the coming year.

On Tuesday, December 18, 2018, the school board had a listening session at Liquid Assets in Sartell.  While there the school board questioned if it had done enough advertising and pushing out of information.

The board discussed that some Sartell residents believe there was a lack of information being put out, and it is also believed that the information may have gotten neglected because of the timing of the election with numerous candidates running for office. It was not uncommon for citizens to get advertisements for various candidates and just toss it away in the trash without looking at it.

Also, there was also speculation that not many community members really understood that about a third of the money would come from income taxes alone; the rest would be provided by the state.

Even though people are attributing the failure of the levy passing to lack of communication, it appears as though some weren’t in favor of it in the first place. The operating levy did not win a single precinct.  The Board conjectured that it could have failed due to false rumors that spread rather quickly, so perhaps some people just got confused by the misgivings. The school board had heard people were worried it might not be in the best interest of the community.

People have shared with the Board that they are upset about the community center and other various projects around Sartell, that have no connection to the Sartell school funding. Furthermore, the school board members stated that there was not an organized group that was in high support of the operating bond like there was for the building bond to pass. There were many groups that had to get together and outings to promote and talk highly of the new high school.

People that took tours of the high school and could see how the money was being spent were more in favor of the budget.

— Sartell School Board

Superintendent, Jeff Schwiebert, stated that there is plenty of money in the budget to finish the new school. The board also pointed out the even though it does not appear that way, Sartell is a property-poor district and the per-student amount of money is 7th from the bottom for the entire state of Minnesota.

A new version of the levy will be pushed out next November that leaves quite a bit of time for the Board and District to figure out how to pitch the new Levy to the community. The district did not comment on what would happen if the levy did not pass.