Moorhead, M.N. – The head of Moorhead Area Public Schools is acknowledging their latest proposal for new property tax increases is a “big request”, but stresses it’s “based out of necessity.”
On Monday night, the system announced a plan proposing new levies to generate millions of dollars to maintain the budget for the 2026-2027 school year.
One idea is to impose a levy to produce $4.37 million annually for a decade to fund day-to-day operations.
A second levy would take in $1.5 million during the same period for other expenditures ranging from text books to school buses.
Each of the two proposals will be placed on the November ballot as voter referendums.
“We’re having our challenges right now financially as a majority of our revenue comes from the state of Minnesota,” Superintendent Brandon Lunak told The Flag on Tuesday.
“Even with the state’s difficulties, we’re having our challenges as well.”
Last fall, the system tried and failed to impose a levy that would generate $4 million dollars per year, but Lunak says they were able to manage without it.
“If this one [in November] does not pass, we would then be looking at another $4 million in reductions,” said Lunak.
Listen: Moorhead Area Public Schools Superintendent Brandon Lunak
“I will almost guarantee you that, based on where we’re at, we would not be able to keep those reductions out of the classroom.”
Specifically, Lunak explained that cuts could affect classroom sizes, the number of elective courses that high school students can choose, and reduced services for students with needs.
Each academic year, Lunak says it costs around $12,000 per student to provide educational services.
Lunak also wants to maintain educational progress.
During the past academic year, Lunak says students in kindergarten through second grade saw their highest literacy test scores since the pandemic.
“This is definitely a need because we want to continue with our programming because we’re seeing results,” said Lunak.
Looking further down the line, Lunak is asking the Moorhead School Board to continue putting pressure on the state legislature to loosen restrictions on funding to make it more flexible.
In particular, Lunak says the system’s Long Term Facility Maintenance fund will have an $8 million surplus in five years.
But based on state law, it can only used for maintenance.
“We need some flexibility to tap in to those restricted general fund accounts so we can maybe use them for other purposes,” Lunak said.
