Superintendent
Brandon Lunak

Moorhead currently levies $224 per pupil, less than almost any school of any size in the region. (Photos/Moorhead Public Schools.)

Nancy Edmonds Hanson 

Moorhead District 152 residents had a strong tradition of voting “yes” for their schools … until last November. That’s when the district’s first capital funds levy missed the mark by just 600 votes.

District Superintendent Brandon Lunak is hoping to move back into the “win” column six weeks from now. That’s when voters will decide on two measures that would ease the funding crunch that has beset operations in recent years – a tightening squeeze that led to some $4 million in cuts for the current school year, and may lead to $5 million more for the 2026-27 budget.

“We are lucky here in Moorhead,” the 28-year MPS veteran observes, citing downtown redevelopment and upcoming projects like the $7 billion DG biofuels plant. “The city is growing. Our school enrollment has grown 30% since 2015. Everything seems to be converging.

“But success brings challenges. That’s what we’re dealing with this fall.” The school district’s levies stand alone on this fall’s ballot. The election is scheduled for Nov. 4. Early voting began last week.

The school district has two measures on the election ballot Nov. 4. One is an operating levy that would raise $4.37 million over each of the next 10 years, or $575 per pupil The second is a capital projects levy that would raise an annual total of $1.5 million.

Lunak says both measures are extremely important: “New state mandates and rising costs mean districts like ours have been doing more with less for 20 years. Adjusting for inflation, we have 18.6% less state funding now than we had in 2005.”

The pair of levies on the ballot focus on different aspects of paying for education. “The first one – the operating levy – addresses day-to-day costs such as teacher and staff salaries, classroom supplies, program costs, utilities and routine maintenance,” he explains. “Funds from the capital projects levy go to technology, bus purchases, curriculum adoption and other capital needs.

“I know consumers are feeling the pinch of rising prices, but remember that our schools, too, are consumers of goods. We’re experiencing all the rising costs, just like the rest of the community. But our operating funds have remained static.”

Yet the funds the schools receive have been static since 2014, when the statewide rate was set at $224 per pupil. Today, while Moorhead’s rate remains unchanged, the statewide average has risen to $1,200. Moorhead’s rate is second-lowest in northwest Minnesota, second only to Bemidji’s $180. Other districts range from $286 in Ada-Borup West and $315 in Pelican Rapids to $523 in Crookston, $595 in Alexandria, $1,463 in Ulen-Hitterdal, and $1,564 in Norman County West.

Since 2019, Lunak reports, the district has been deficit-spending. “We had good reserves,” he emphasizes. “Back then, our fund balance was 17% or so, giving us some flexibility that has tided us over. But now that’s very low, just 2%. (He adds that funds is some accounts are restricted by law to be used only for specific expenditures: “We can’t just move that money around where it’s needed.”)

Last year, the district was able to keep $4 million in cuts out of the classroom. “We cut capital expenditures and delayed purchases,” he says, “and reduced Chromebooks (student computers) from a three- to a four-year replacement cycle. We offered early retirements, and 17 veteran teachers accepted buy-outs.” At first, several bus routes were going to be dropped; a late resignation by an administrator and shuffling several positions allayed that.

But if the operating levy fails, the $5 million to be cut for the coming year will cause more widely visible reductions. “It will definitely affect the bus routes,” Lunak speculates. “It will definitely affect staff, and that means larger class sizes. It will definitely affect programs. We haven’t identified those yet … we don’t mean this to be a threat. But honestly, based on what was already reduced last year, how we handle the budget if the levy fails is going to affect families.”

Last year’s capital projects levy would have raised $4.3 million per year for ten years. While it received 48.57% of the vote, it failed by some 600 votes. “If just 300 more people had said ‘yes’ instead of ‘no,’ we’d have had it,” Lunak reflects.

Moorhead’s funding dilemma is not unique. Nine schools in the region have similar levies on their ballots. That includes DGF, which is asking for $500 per pupil, and Alexandria, where the goal is $600.

“Folks forget that school districts are not only consumers of goods, but must abide by many, many rules for staffing and programs,” Lunak says. “A lot of our costs are far out of our control.

“I wish there were a better way to do this than raise taxes. But we have only two ways to go – operating and capital projects levies – and both require voter approval.”