What a great start to the 2019-2020 school year. It has been a great summer and fall here in Becker. It appears everyone had an enjoyable summer and is refreshed as we welcome nearly 3,000 students back into our classrooms. The success of our students is supported by our outstanding staff and our wonderful community. As we continue to learn and improve, we lean on the values instilled by the entire Becker Public School District: hard work and commitment to education, persistence in all we do leading to excellence, and community giving us the understanding that we are all in this together.
The Becker School District has a strong history of partnering with the schools to care for our students. As superintendent, I see the work of staff, students and our community in ensuring our students have what is come to be known as the best education in the area. This is made possible through our community partnership. Part of this support includes local funding. Public education funding in Minnesota relies on local taxes. Unfortunately, the State of Minnesota has not kept up with funding at the rate of inflation for the past 15 plus years, which is why school districts ask for support of local taxpayers. In Becker, levies currently fund about 20 percent of our education costs. When you consider that 20 percent of each school week comes from local funding, you can see the impact your local tax dollars have on our students, 1 out of every 5 days!
Our current operating levy and our technology levies are expiring in 2019. On November 5th, we are asking voters to approve replacement levies that will allow us to continue to provide the same high-quality education our students currently have access to. The request is to replace the expiring levies with renewals and a slight increase of $110 per pupil.
Becker Public Schools will be asking two of the over 45 school district questions throughout the state. The increase of both Becker School District questions, calculates to the second lowest increase of all Minnesota districts asking voters for increases this fall.
As noted, this vote will be broken down into two different questions. Question one includes the increase, which equates to just over $3 per month on a $200,000 home. The second question does not increase taxes at all, but allows the district to continue to provide opportunities to achieve our mission statement “Preparing self-directed learners to thrive in a changing global economy”.
The operating levy funds services and materials critical to student success. This includes things like: smaller class sizes, accelerated programs, special education services; extracurricular programs, like arts, athletics, band, drama, and academic teams; student health and media services, student safety, teacher training, maintenance, utilities, and curriculum materials. The capital projects levy provides for infrastructure and devices like networks, servers, Wi-Fi, and devices our students use.
Funding both questions in November is a continued investment in our children’s future. If you have questions, please visit the district website or contact us. Please vote by November 5th, 2019.
There is a rich tradition of supporting education in Becker, and it will only continue with your assistance. Becker is the place to live and raise a family; and because of community support, our schools are a great place to build the future.
Thank you for your support of Becker Schools.
