Community Organization Forms to Support St. Michael-Albertville School Referendum

The late summer evening was a gorgeous one, but inside the St. Michael-Albertvillea dedicated group of individuals had autumn on their minds. More specifically, they were planning for Tuesday, Nov. 8, which is the day local voters will decide whether or not to pass a school district levy referendum. The community group, called the Invest in Excellence Committee, formed to support the referendum’s successful passage.

The Nov. 8 levy referendum seeks to revoke the existing $500 per pupil levy and replace it with a $695 levy.

Residents Chad and Aimee Libby are heading up this year’s committee with about a dozen others so far. The couple has two children in the school district and said they jumped at the opportunity to help because of their strong support for education.

A similar committee was formed to help the district’s 2004 referendum pass, but seven years' time has created some new challenges-and new opportunities-to spread their message.

One big boon to the 2011 committee is the ease of communication via social networking. Unless you were an Ivy League college student back in 2004, chances are you weren’t on Facebook. Fast forward to present day, and the message-spreading capabilities of social media sites are sure to help raise awareness and give voters access to information.

“Getting the information out there was more face-to-face,” Sonja Buckmeier said of the previous levy effort. “This way you can hit it from different angles. I think we’ll have a bigger turnout for the vote this time just simply because more people will be aware of it.”

On the flip side of the coin, another new entity has formed since STMA’s 2004 levy passed, and this one will present a bigger challenge to the community committee. The Tea Party’s style of ‘no new taxes, no new revenue, no compromises’ had yet to hit the political scene, and the new group’s popularity has changed the way many people perceive tax increases, which-of course-would be a direct result of the referendum’s passage (a $200,000 home would see a $88 annual increase in property taxes, or $7.33 per month).

Invest in Excellence committee members point to the small size of the increase-from $500 per student to $695 per student-as a sign to the community that the district is asking for as little help as possible to maintain current services. The $695 levy would still place St. Michael-Albertville comfortably behind the state average of $850-900.

One other sign of fiscal responsibility they point to is the $695 figure, chosen in large part so the entire levy amount will qualify for a partial subsidy from the state. Any local levy amount of $700 and under receives a 44 percent subsidized from the state, so this levy would bring the most bang for residents’ buck since the entire levy amount would receive the subsidy and local taxpayers would pay the remaining 56 percent.

“Nobody likes new taxes, but this is money staying in our community,” Buckmeier said. “It’s just continuing the excellence because everyone has invested in the past, and hopefully they continue to do so.”

“We have a tradition of excellence and good schools, and that has a direct impact on property values,” Libby added.

Those who are looking for more information or to participate in the Invest in Excellence committee’s awareness campaign can find out more here, or on Facebook at STMA Invest in Excellence.