Levy Workshop Information

Schools for Equity in Education

All public school children must have equal access to a high quality education regardless of where they live in Minnesota.

Communication strategies to support local school district referenda Susan spoke generally of effective communications methods and then specifically addressed what White Bear Lake School District learned from a referendum defeat to orchestrate a referendum victory the following year.
Speaker Susan Brott Past-President, Minnesota School Public Relations Association (MinnSPRA) Communications Coordinator, previously in District #624 White Bear Lake Schools, currently is the Chief Marketing and Communications Officer in District #197	Materials Telling Your Story: Communication strategies to support local school district referendum Making Lemonade out of Lemons - Turning a Referendum Loss into a Successful Two-Year: A case study of the White Bear Lake Area Schools operating levy referenda 2006 & 2007
Note: Use Facebook in recruiting recent alumni for absentee ballots. We did this in 2007 in White Bear and it worked very well. I would think in a general election year like 2008 it would be even more effective. And now that Facebook is not restricted to college/university students, you may find even more alums. (Same could probably be used with MySpace, although the recent high school grads I talk to say Facebook is the better choice).

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

South Washington County: A Bond and a Renewal
Barb and Leslee discussed how the coordinated efforts of the district and the citizen group resulted in the passage of the state’s largest ever school bond one year and a referendum renewal the following year.

Speakers
Barbara Brown
Communications Director, District #833 South Washington County Schools

Leslee Boyd
Chair, 2006 Bond Election and the 2007 Levy Renewal for the District #833 South Washington County citizen’s committee

Materials
Citizen’s Committee + District Effort = Success x 2

Administrative To-Do List

Administrative To-Do List Content

Staff Participation Q&A

Visit the Citizen’s Website at www.vote833.com
User Name: lboyd Password: lb2007

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Passing a Bond and Referendum in a Presidential Election Year Ken was Superintendent in Cambridge-Isanti in 2004 when the district passed a $47.7 million dollar bond to build two schools and an accompanying operating levy. Ken discussed the district’s year-long efforts to effectively build community support and the activities leading up to the Presidential election day.
Speaker Ken Runberg – Email Retired Superintendent	Materials Bond Issues and Operating Levies – Cambridge

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Multi-year Bond and Levy Campaigns in Delano John discussed Delano’s continuing drive to build and staff a new school in the district.
Speaker John Sweet – Email Superintendent of Delano School District	Materials Multi-year Bond and Levy Campaigns in Delano

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Additional Materials

Successful Referendum Strategies
This information was given out during a Panel Discussion from a Levy Workshop sponsored by SEE back in 2003. This is an excellent document in detailing District 196 year-long effort to pass their referendum.