The Mankato Area Public Schools is proposing a 5.18% increase to the school district’s property tax levy for the 2023-24 school year for a total of $30.9 million.

Some of the increase has to do with inflation, but there is also a cost related to students leaving. In the three years since fall of 2019, enrollment in Mankato schools dropped by 583 students, from 8,685 to 8,102.

The Mankato residents are being asked to shoulder this property tax burden when many residents are struggling to make ends meet. We are not sure our students are well-educated academically, as MCA test scores have fallen. If our district wants to raise our taxes, it would be nice to see some plan to improve test scores and stop the students from leaving.

According to the Ciresi Walburn Foundation, “Data shows that Minnesota’s public schools consistently underserve students from low-income families. When our current system limits the opportunity for any of our children, it holds back our workforce and economy …. In 2013, Mississippi passed a comprehensive literacy law to combat lagging reading scores and student literacy. The law requires districts to use a high-quality, phonics-based curriculum … and bans the promotion of students not proficient in reading by the end of third grade.”

Will our district institute a competitive curriculum and use our tax dollars effectively? As stakeholders in this community, we should demand transparency and accountability from our school.

If I have to sacrifice my hard earned money, I want to know the return on that sacrifice. Our students and teachers deserve an answer.

Elizabeth Hanke