School districts across Minnesota have bond requests, operating levies on Tuesday's ballot

Voters in school districts across Minnesota — including Minneapolis, St. Paul and Duluth — will see operating levies or bonding requests on their election ballot Tuesday.

Thirty-five districts are asking voters to support operating levies, and 25 districts are seeking support for bonding requests.

"Your operating levies are going to be money designated for the classroom — that's going to help pay for teachers, or getting smaller class sizes or curriculum materials," said Greg Abbott, director of communications for the Minnesota School Boards Association. "And the bonds are focused on buildings, and maybe there's a few going out for technology improvements."

Minneapolis and St. Paul are the largest districts asking for support from voters for operating levies. The list also includes Duluth, Forest Lake, Red Wing, Waconia and Willmar, among other districts across the state.

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Among the districts with bonding requests on the ballot, the largest one-time requests are for projects in the Detroit Lakes, MACCRAY and Northfield districts, each of which exceeds $40 million.

Minneapolis is asking for support for a $12 million annual levy for technology improvements.

Abbott said the number of school districts with levies or bonding requests on the ballot this year is lower than usual.

"In 2016 there were 33 going out, this year there's 35. But other than that, you have to go back to 1996 to get that few districts going out for an operating levy," he said.

Abbott said levy requests are cyclical. Many passed in 2011 for 10 years, he said — meaning there should be a surge of levies on the ballot in 2021.

Similarly, many districts completed building projects a year or two ago, when the state of Minnesota expanded pre-K offerings — which may explain why fewer districts sought bond referendums this fall.

Voters in most of the districts with operating levies or bond requests on Tuesday's ballot can find more information about the requests on their district website.