Greenway’s referendum failed after Tuesday’s votes were counted. My information comes second hand from someone in administration. I don’t have vote totals, but what I heard was the measure failed by about 200 votes out of about 1800 — roughly a ten-point defeat.
(UPDATE: From the May 21 Grand Rapids Herald-Review, referendum fails 1170-898. That’s a 272 vote spread or about 56.5 percent to 43.5 percent … not especially close)
This pivotal referendum would have combined and extended three existing excess levy referendums for the Greenway school district on the western Iron Range. The district is in massive debt and is facing a defeat in an important lawsuit with one of its bargaining units that will further deepen the district’s financial woes.
The word was that the district would try again in the fall, but I seriously doubt that the outcome will change. The district has survived off operating levies for years as declining enrollment, skyrocketing legacy costs and some poor long-range planning savaged the dwindling budget. Unless given a iron-clad long term plan to A) get out of debt, and B) return the district to its past level of quality, I doubt voters are going to change their minds. It’s very sad to say, but the district’s only legitimate choice now is to find a way to cover the debt while entering into some kind of consolidation with Grand Rapids or Nashwauk-Keewatin. There are efforts underway to build a new school for N-K, so this might be the perfect time to talk about ways for Greenway to get involved.
I’m never happy to see hard times for schools. As a teacher myself, this is tragic to watch. But absent a solid long range plan, Greenway’s leaders need to face the fact that they probably aren’t going to be able to pass a referendum in the fall.
Meantime, everyone in northern Minnesota needs to be worried about the long range health of their school districts. Greenway has some special problems, but most of their problems are shared by everyone on the Range. Wise planning is the only way districts will survive declining enrollment. And all this simply underscores the fact that large, “proposed” jobs projects that might bring new families with students mean nothing when reality requires actual economic activity. Let’s take this as a rallying call to modernize our thinking and fight for the Iron Range.
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