OUTLAWING OPERATING LEVY REFERENDUMS

Bemidji lawmaker Frank Moe suggested last year that there should be a law outlawing operating levy referendums for education. Royalton Legislator Al Doty likes the bill primarily because it would force lawmakers to take a good hard look at school funding formulas in Minnesota. Doty said the bill is simply a way to call attention to the problem, that the system is broken, that the state constitution mandates students are educated equally and the money is not handed out equally. Doty said we need to look at all school funding formulas and they were all good ideas back when they were suggested. Now, making piece-meal changes and bandaid fixes only helps some districts while messing up others in another part of the state. Operating levy referendums failed last year in Brainerd, Crosby-Ironton, Wadena-Deer Creek and Walker-Hackensack-Akeley.