Even years aren’t usually a good time for school districts to run a referendum.
The voter approval rate is almost 20% lower in even years than it is in odd years, when there isn’t a presidential or midterm election.
Walker-Hackensack-Akeley Superintendent Kevin Wellen knows that. He’s been in school administration for two decades.
But Walker-Hackensack-Akeley is still asking voters to approve an operating levy in November.
“Somebody asked me, ‘Why didn’t you wait ‘til next year when we’re not on a midterm election and just run it then?’” he said in an August interview. “And my answer was: We’d leave a million dollars on the table.”
WHA is one of several school districts in north-central Minnesota trying for a levy this fall as a direct result of a new state aid the Legislature created earlier this year.
The Seasonal Recreational Tax Base Replacement Aid covers up to half of a district’s operating levy, reducing the amount that residents pay. To qualify, at least 15% of property in the district must be seasonal recreational — or, more commonly, cabins.
An operating levy is one of three types of referendums school districts can pass. These levies are a per pupil amount collected through property taxes.
But if a district hasn’t passed an operating levy, it doesn’t qualify for the new aid.
Pequot Lakes is also trying for a levy in November. It and WHA are among the nine districts in the state that qualify for the maximum amount of this aid, Superintendent Kurt Stumpf said.
“For years and years, decades and decades, to be honest with you, school districts like Pequot Lakes have been penalized, and more burden has been placed on local district residents and commercial properties than other school districts,” Stumpf said.
“ ... In general, school funding is inequitable, and I think this is a potential way to make it more fair.”
How the aid actually works
The aid is based on the percentage of cabin property in a district.
In the Nashwauk-Keewatin district, which already has an operating levy, that means the state will pay 25% of the levy amount, leaving residents to cover the rest.
There’s no change in taxes for cabin owners.
Districts won’t get any new money from the seasonal tax base replacement aid — their referendum revenue is still capped at whatever voters approve. But more of that revenue will come from the state and less from local property taxes.
Half of the 75 school districts that qualify for the new aid don’t have operating levies. In recent years, it’s been hard to get communities to pass referendums, even though districts say they need them now more than ever, as financial challenges intensify. But people are already feeling stretched thin, and these are the only tax increases they can directly vote down.
Advocates hope the new aid will make it easier for school districts to pass levies because districts can ask local voters for less while still getting the same amount of money.
I’ve heard from people, "It sounds too good to be true, how do you convince them?" I just keep showing them the math.Walker-Hackensack-Akeley Superintendent Kevin Wellen
But some districts are taking it a step further.
School boards have the authority to levy several property taxes onto residents. Pequot Lakes and Walker-Hackensack-Akeley’s school boards have committed to not levying some of those and instead getting that revenue from the operating levy.
“So, what I’ve told people is if you vote yes on Question One, your taxes stay the same, and the district gets just over $637,000,” Wellen said. “If you vote no on Question One, your taxes stay the same, and the district gets nothing.”
WHA is going even further and adding a second question to the ballot. If approved, a $400,000 home would see a tax increase of $4 a month, Wellen said, and the district would get a little over $1 million in revenue.
Wellen said he’s confident Question One will pass, and he’s hopeful voters will see the value of Question Two.
“[That’s] $188,000 from our residents to get $825,000 in state aid,” he said. “It’s a crazy bargain. And I’ve heard from people, ‘It sounds too good to be true, how do you convince them?’ I just keep showing them the math.”
Legislative delays
The new aid made it through the state Senate in 2025, but it didn’t make it through the evenly divided House of Representatives.
Bill author Sen. Grant Hauschild, DFL-Hermantown, said this year, he “really doubled down.” Hauschild is the only rural Northern Minnesota DFLer in the Legislature, and the DFL had only a one-seat majority in the Senate.
“In final negotiations in the tax committee, I made it my top issue and really pushed it as something that I needed in the negotiations,” he said. “ ... Ultimately, I think it came down to, really, me saying, like, ‘Hey, look, this is my top need. This is the thing I need.’”
Seasonal recreational property taxes used to be part of local operating levies. Legislators changed that in 2001 and began sending that tax revenue to a statewide education fund with the goal of it being more equitably distributed.
Hauschild said in a 2025 interview that this change alone was a disservice to Northern Minnesota districts. But then, he said, former Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s administration moved that money from an education fund to the state general fund.
For Hauschild, the new aid addresses an equity issue.
“[The tax system has] a disproportionate impact on districts with large amounts of second homes and seasonal properties,” he said. “So, let's provide an aid back to those school districts to make up for the fact that they're not collecting those property taxes.”
Potential challenges
School districts trying for a referendum because of the new aid will face a unique challenge: Ballots will still include language telling voters that by voting yes, they’re voting for a property tax increase — even if the district has committed to offsetting the new levy.
“Now that will take a little bit of explanation, but voters are pretty wise, and they understand that if you can finally start to bring some of those cabin property taxes back into the district, that will be helpful,” Todd Rapp said.
Rapp, owner of Rapp Strategies, Inc., is helping Pequot Lakes and Walker-Hackensack-Akeley with their election communications. He said a bigger issue will be cutting through the negativity and polarization of elections.
“Part of the challenge for a school district is going to be to make sure they can get the attention of their voters so they can explain clearly and factually what it is that they’re trying to do,” he said.
Plus, there’s another education question on the ballot that, to some, sounds too good to be true. A constitutional amendment would increase the payout from the state’s school trust fund. That also means more money for schools, with no tax increase.
Rapp said the school districts’ jobs are to communicate clearly, answer voter questions and then trust that voters will make the right decision for their community.
“In a case like this, I believe that most voters will be able to cut through that skepticism and realize that in this case, it is a way to get more money to local schools without increasing taxes, both the local levy and the constitutional amendment,” he said.
Stumpf and Wellen both said the trust their districts have built with the community is an advantage.
Pequot Lakes and Walker-Hackensack-Akeley passed building referendums last year. Pequot spent time connecting with the community to earn their trust after a failed referendum in 2023, and Walker’s referendum passed with a clear majority.
The school boards will have to maintain that trust moving forward. Offsetting the operating levy by reducing other taxes will be an annual decision, but the referendum authorization lasts 10 years. Wellen acknowledged a future Board could undo the offset, collecting the operating levy revenue on top of its other levies.
“My answer to the population, then, would be, ‘Then elect new board members that won’t do that,’” he said.
Stumpf also acknowledged that the Board’s commitment to under-levying isn’t binding.
“We don’t want to encumber future Boards, but I think future Boards living in our community and knowing what we promised our community is important as well,” he said.
The amendment and new aid come as school districts have been really hurting financially.
Stumpf said the referendum would allow Pequot Lakes to keep the same number of intervention staff to help kids struggling with reading and math. It would also support their extracurricular classes like robotics and band.
Walker-Hackensack-Akeley has a $573,000 deficit. Wellen said the extra money would allow them to fill that hole, while still keeping class sizes small and offering more opportunities for students.
"If all goes according to plan, we are going to be able to maintain exactly what we’re offering ... and we’ll have a little bit of choices on maybe what we can add,” he said.
