Today’s vote has Range school district on the ropes

Today there’s a levy referendum for the Greenway School District on the western end of the Mesabi Iron Range. If you’re not from the Range, this is one of the schools who used to kick your school’s ass in hockey. Part of the reason they haven’t been kicking your ass lately (I’m talking about you, St. Thomas Academy!) is a deep, systemic budgetary crisis that has lasted more than a decade. Greenway has been in operating debt for that time, as legacy and operating costs skyrocketed while enrollment dropped in this largely rural, Iron Range district. The result has been drastically cut electives, bare-bone curriculum and an almost complete dependence on excess levy referendums to survive.

The Grand Rapids Herald-Review ran a great backgrounder on Sunday.

Many Iron Range school districts share some of Greenway’s problems — declining enrollment, increasing transportation costs, legacy expenses, etc. — but Greenway is by far the worst off and in many ways emblematic of the problem. Greenway has the added trouble of losing a major lawsuit with its unions over contract issues. The district is trying to separate the matters of the operating levy and the lawsuit, but the two issues each have a hand in strangling the district’s budget.

The referendum today takes three referendums set to expire over the next three years and combines and extends them into the future. Those for and against the levy passing don’t say it explicitly, but this is a survival referendum for Greenway. If this loses, you will probably see this storied Range school district forced into dissolution and merger with one or more neighboring districts. That said, the district has shown major management problems in the past that has given the voters of today few options. I don’t know that the levy’s passage or defeat can be declared a victory for anyone. Greenway faces major challenges either way. It’s the kind of muddled mess that signifies the budget problems Iron Range districts face because of lost students and the past practice of granting contracts favorable to teachers.

I know those who live or grew up in the rural farming areas of Minnesota have little sympathy because your schools went through major consolidations two or more decades ago. Range schools would have been wise to consolidate strategically over the years as well, but forced consolidation is never as good as planned mergers. Furthermore, whether we’re talking about Greenway or any school on the Range, we’re talking about places that lifted working class kids out of poverty or near poverty and sent them off to be doctors, lawyers, and professionals of all types. Schools mean upward mobility on the Iron Range. Historically, our northern schools have been better than average and received vast support from local voters. It’s just part of our culture. The hardest part about the financial collapse of our Iron Range schools is watching great schools become average and knowing that there’s very little that can be done about it under the current administration. Art, music, advanced coursework and much more have been chopped away, leaving students with higher aspirations disappointed and sometimes angry. Students without higher aspirations simply go without aspirations, which is a greater tragedy.

So if you need something else to watch besides today’s presidential primaries in Oregon and Kentucky, check on the situation in Greenway. I know Iron Range educators will be watching closely, because what happens in Greenway could happen in many Range districts within the decade.

How are things where you are?