GRAND RAPIDS — Voters sent the Grand Rapids School District a clear message Election Day, and that was a resounding “no.”
Voters were asked to consider three ballot questions asking residents to pay more in property taxes, which the district said would stabilize its finances and restore programming.
On the first question, 5,804, or 74.97%, voted against the initial per pupil operating levy. Only 1,938, or 25.03% voted in favor of this question.
The second question failed with 5,970, or 77.47%, of voters saying “no,” and 6,044, or 78.47%, voting “no” to the third referendum ask. In the second question, 1,736, or 22.53% supported the project levy ask. The secondary per-pupil levy ask received 1,658 votes in favor, or 21.53%.
“Our voters were pretty clear on … what they were for and what they were not for,” Superintendent Matt Grose said by phone late Tuesday night. “ … I think there were two things that were really on people's mind. One was timing and the other one was taxes.”
Grose said the district’s asks faced headwinds brought on by a tough tax environment in the community.
“(It’s been) a tough tax environment for the last couple of years, big changes to people’s market value that's affected their property taxes to sales taxes that were proposed and passed. And I think people are just sick of talking about more taxes and hearing about more taxes again,” Grose said.
“That's unfortunate that our system in Minnesota is designed in a way that requires school districts to do this. It's unfortunate.”
Grose said the district is now tasked with determining how to move forward with a projected $3 million budget hole looming in the future. The first step, he said, is learning from the election results. Then, it will be taking a hard look at the budget with the end of 2023’s financials part of the picture.
“(We’ll be) thinking about that, projecting our deficit moving forward, developing the budget reduction number that we'll need moving forward,” Grose said, “and then evaluating those options from the standpoint of student impact, staff impact, family impact, community impact, longevity and sustainability of those reductions — and to some degree reversibility, too.
“Because, you know, the needs are not going away.”
More on the referendum
The primary ballot question sought an $1,100 per pupil operating levy. This would have added $4.6 million annually to the district's budget and help to avoid deeper budget cuts, according to the district. Because this question failed, the others failed automatically — but voters disfavored those by an even larger margin.
Question 2 asked for a $2.5 million annual capital projects levy to restore programs and provide for school safety, technology and school buses.
And Question 3 sought another $300 per pupil to maintain small class sizes, enhance career and technical education, and more.
On a home valued at $200,000, the tax impact of the referendum would have been $19 per month on Question 1, an additional $6 per month with Question 2, and $5 more with Question 3.
If all three ballot questions were successful, a home valued at $200,000 would see an estimated property tax increase of $30.75 per month starting in 2024. A home valued at $300,000 would see an estimated increase of $46.75 per month.
Grose said budget cuts would be on the horizon for the district in spring 2024 and beyond, if voters disapprove of the questions.
To start, balancing the budget would likely mean eliminating or delaying the purchase of new curriculum, buses and technology; eliminating some student activities; and building hour reductions.
Beyond those, Grose said four scenarios would be under consideration, including the potential to temporarily or permanently close Cohasset Elementary School, staff reductions ranging from 15-23 positions or moving to a four-day school week.
Among those is the option of eliminating the Alternative Delivery of Specialized Instructional Services, or ADSIS. This academic and behavior intervention program serves hundreds of children each day in the district, Grose said.
"None of these options are great," Grose told the board. "They all have a cost, whether it's to student opportunities or staff experience and opportunities. So, significant."
