Upcoming South Washington County School Election
A friend sent me this message on Tuesday Apr. 18. I send this exactly as received:
“Do you have any interest in writing about 2 votes for 2023 SoWashCo ISD833 Schools a) Buildings Levy? and b) three School Board seats ?
Not sure of the 2023 dates – (Jun 22 – Aug 7) and or (Oct 22 – Nov 7)
People aren’t expecting an election in 2023.
81,921 registered voters – in SD47 Woodbury, SD31 Cottage Grove and SD53
Mar 21, 6:30pm Demographics presented.
19,000 students in 25 buildings;
(4) schools overcrowded now;
expect (8) overcrowded and Attendance Boundary shift /Redistricting with +10,000 more houses built.
DRAFT LEVY presented & feedback accepted
Tues Apr 25, 6:30 – 8pm
Oltman Middle School
FINAL PLAN presented
Tues May 23, 6:30pm – 8pm
East Ridge High School
Can you send friends to go to the meeting/s? “
Of course, March 21 is past, but not the other dates.
I would urge your active participation. (Personally, I cannot attend April 25 because of a preceding commitment that evening, but I will participate in other ways, including this post.)
This coming referendum follows an unfortunate loss on a prior issue in August 2022. I wrote about that election then. You can read it here.
My analysis last time: The 2022 election was one that nobody “won”, most certainly the kids present and future who aren’t old enough to vote. The ‘victors’ got their base to vote, which was a small minority of the eligible voters in the school district. The ‘losers’ seemed to have no organization to promote a ‘yes’ vote. This is not the school districts fault: Except for generating the rationale for a yes vote, the school district seems proscribed legally from lobbying for its own initiative. The lobbying is up to the voters. I would suspect that this will be true again, as it has always been. Active citizens matter.
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