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Serving Northern St. Louis County, Minnesota

Ely School Board share concerns with local legislators

Catie Clark
Posted 1/30/25

Ely- Both State Senator Grant Hauschild and Representative Roger Skraba virtually attended the ISD 696 school board study session on Monday to discuss issues the district wants the Legislature to …

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Ely School Board share concerns with local legislators

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Ely- Both State Senator Grant Hauschild and Representative Roger Skraba virtually attended the ISD 696 school board study session on Monday to discuss issues the district wants the Legislature to address.
The district’s concerns were presented by Superintendent Anne Oelke. The issues that stood out were the inclusion of seasonal recreational properties in school district operational levies, the need for local control and flexibility for both policies and funding, updating funding policies for post-secondary enrollment options, funding legislative mandates for schools, holding schools harmless for state-mandated compensatory funding, and fixing the inflationary shortfall in the state’s funding formula for schools.
Seasonal properties
Hauschild has authored a bill to include seasonal properties in school district operational levies. His efforts are fully supported by Skraba. Seasonal properties were excluded from operational levies beginning in 2001.
Skraba’s view on this issue was succinct: “Governor Ventura took that away because (he believed it was) taxation without representation. I will argue against that. If you want a property to recreate, that’s great, but if you weren’t there, and someone lived there, then the school district would receive those dollars. Buying the property and saying, ‘I don’t live there; I shouldn’t be taxed for this,’ then you actually take that away (from school districts), and the money just goes to the state.”
Inflationary shortfall
Since 2003, because of inflation, school districts have suffered a 16 percent loss of general educational revenue. Using the current educational funding formula, schools currently receive $7,281 per student from the state. If that amount were adjusted for inflation, it would have been $8,645, thus creating a $1,364 shortfall.
“I don’t want to beat a dead horse, but as you know, everybody’s asking for the general education formula to make up for the inflation shortfall,” Oelke said.
Local control and flexibility
Oelke made a case that one-size-fits-all legislation doesn’t work for small school districts. One of the examples she used was the state’s directive to create a new position with “student support personnel aid.” Ely is eligible for $40,000 every year but the money can only be used to support certain positions like school psychologists, social workers, or chemical dependency counselors. The restrictions are so specific that districts like Ely can’t use the earmarked money for support staff like Ely’s K-12 student counselor or its part-time school nurse.
“This is a kicker for a small school district like ours,” Oelke pointed out, especially when we’re looking at making reductions to balance our budget. I haven’t been able to use the money for the last two years. There’s $80,000 just sitting there that the state gave to us, but those restrictions are just too harsh on how we can use it.”
Hauschild remarked, “This is very frustrating for somebody like me who voted for (the student support personnel aid). I was hoping it would be used for (more support positions) exactly as you’re describing.”
He went on to say that both he and Senator Weber from Luvern currently have bills to broaden what the aid can be used for.
Post-secondary
enrollment
Oelke argued for a revision of how the post-secondary enrollment program works. Under the current model, the state reduces the amount it gives the school district for high school students in this program.
“It causes a big loss of funding,” she said. “We have about a hundred 11th and 12th graders. We have 28 that go to post-secondary (at Minnesota North College), so we only get a small amount of that funding but we can’t control any of the requirements for the program. This impacts our funding immensely, even though we still need to do things like give them a laptop and support them here.”

State mandates
Oelke also commented on the unfair practice of legislative mandates that are unfunded or partially funded. She also argued that when those mandates affect compensatory funding, which is used for students that need additional assistance to meet academic performance standards, school districts should be protected from having those funds decline.
“I’m sure you’re hearing that compensatory funding is a hot topic, ensuring that the school districts are held harmless with any of the mandates. We understand that the mandates are to stay forever, like unemployment compensation and the READ act, but I would encourage you to continue to fund those mandates, instead of giving us a one-year pot of money that then trickles up. Then we’re left with the mandates and no funding stream coming in.”
“We hear you,” Hauschild said. “Both Roger and I believe in no funding, no mandate.”