History of Operating Levies

In 2001 Governor Ventura and the legislature intended to take funding of education off of  property taxes. This action reduced school levies in Minnesota from $1.9 billion to $924 million by taking away the general education levy for education that showed up on property tax bills. This levy was fair to taxpayers, in that it was fully equalized; meaning the tax burden on property with similar market value was uniform across the state. A problem developed when the state did not find other revenues to make up for the reduction in property tax revenue. This led schools to rely on voter approved operating levies to maintain operations.

Delano voters approved the existing $426 levy right after that in 2002, the same time that many schools reacted to the actions of the legislature in 2001. That is the primary reason approximately 130 schools are asking voters to approve new levies now, 10 years after the action of the legislature.

The $990 per pupil levy being voted on November 8 will be used to maintain current operations, not add new programs or reduce class sizes.