My family has owned land on Lake Vermilion and lived in the Tower area since 1886. I, like many seasonal owners on Lake Vermilion, have strong and enduring connections to the area. My cousins and grandparents were all educated in ISD 2142.
I am also Executive Director of Minnesota Seasonal Recreational Property Owners Coalition. We have over 500 members on Lake Vermilion alone. We could not vote in the recent referendum… and even without being able to vote, or being able to use ISD Schools, we pay per dollar of value more into ISD’s 2142 than residents do.
I am writing on behalf of our members and thousands of other seasonal property owners that we oppose the recent referendum vote, and question strongly the legality of the vote, and the process.
‰Seasonal owners will pay the majority of the bond, and receive no benefit.
‰As Main Streets ion Tower, Cook and Orr decline, ever more property tax burden will be shifted onto seasonal owners.
‰The plan is inequitable, creating winner communities and loser communities.
‰The information provided to the public prior to the vote was not adequate or even unbiased – we believe Johnson Controls spread mis-information before the vote and ignored public concerns.
‰The school district was slanted in the materials it put out about the referendum, using tax-payer dollars inappropriately and we believe, illegally.
We also believe that student enrollment projections will never support or justify the proposed new and renovated facilities.
We will work vigorously to oppose the so-called “northern plans” of ISD 2124 through whatever channels are available, including legislatively, legally and through grass roots organizing. We strongly urge the School Board to reconsider the plan, to do further due diligence with an independent auditor to determine actual enrollment projections, cost benefit analysis, and weigh carefully other options to meet the challenges ISD 2142 faces.
Seasonal owners and MSRPO would gladly participate in this effort – we support our local schools and communities, but feel very strongly that the northern plan is misguided, does not represent a real savings to the taxpayer and will not benefit the communities or the students that are adjacent to Lake Vermilion.
Thank you for your consideration – we await your response.
Jeff Forester
Executive Director
MSRPO Coalition, Inc.
The Benefit you receive will be people employed in the local area that are educated as well as the people who are educated in the area you actually live. Why is Mpls, Chcgo, or any other area where cabin owners really live, entitled to a better education then the kids from the Cook/Orr/Tower areas? In no way are the kids up there getting the same education as the kids in southern MN. And if the education that the kids up north are getting is adequate then maybe all the programs in the south should be cut too, then there will be more than enough money to pay all the bills of ISD#2142. I do agree that splitting the district is a terrible plan...The way things stand now, the only school to benefit from that plan will be Cook...They will take everything, leaving Tower and Orr to die. This "movement" is really just about Cook....they refuse to think that they are not the best and will have to change just like everyone else...
Whitedahlias,
Those who are seasonal owners will never see the value in closing the school associated with their property. They are already seeing the lower property values associated with Lake Vermilion due to the ISD 2142 blunder. You and others keep touting how a school doesn't drive the town. I beg to differ. Without a school to attract young families. A town only will attract those who are retiring. The town will lose its young people who work to keep the town moving. Teenagers who work carrying out your groceries? Teens pumping gas, checking you out at the grocery store? Not likely. They will be in towns 25 plus miles away. High School games that bring in business? Those will also be played in towns 25 plus miles away.
Tower-Soudan got a raw deal. My children lost their school. They lost their ability to be a part of their town, of their school community. We lost a whole lot, yet our area will be expected to pay 37% of 80 million dollars because even though ISD 2142 doesnt want to educate our kids. They do want their tax base.
Go Figure.
lol greentea. as has been said before, if the school was the driving force in growth of a town, we should all be chasing our schools out of town because our towns have NOT been growing, but in fact have been slowly suffocating for DECADES. explain that with your logic would you?
and what on earth does tower gain from games being in town? i recall being on the team bus and driving all the way back to cook for our after game meals/celebrations whatnot. its not like theres a mcds or restaurant open for the kids after the games. im sure that locals will still frequent their local businesses no matter where a school is. so will any applicable tourists.
booohoooohoooo your children lost their school... booohoooohooooo. guess what, i lost my school too. my son lost what was going to be his future school. my whole family lost their school. even parts of my family lost their beloved mascot to stupid political bs. but we are all "losing" something to "better" everything. and dont get all "cherry isnt babbit isnt" because they are 'losing' their original school and even their mascots are going to be voted upon for possible changes - yes, even cherry. we are all losing some of our rivals and sports teams that we play. we are all "losing" something - and the hardest part is that we are losing friends and families and the very reason we live where we live; close knit communities, all because of a flat out unwillingness to change and endure some hardships on all our parts. we must give up our sense of convenience and comfort, and yes, greentea, i realize that it is VERY convenient to be right next to your child's school. but you know what? why does that matter so much to you? move to babbit. just because its perfectly convenient for you to be right next to the school doesnt mean that my kid has to suffer with his educational opportunities. your convenience is all about you, and does nothing to improve the opportunities for my kids, OR yours for that matter. i support your decision to send your kids to virginia for better opportunities, but you could get that right in this district if you would only support it. but whatever, you do what you do, and like has been said you are going to virginia, so what do you care what we do? you are getting a good deal paying our taxes and not virginia's.
i dont get why you think that students wont still need, apply for and get jobs at local businesses. i dont get where you think that your town is attracting anyone now except retirement people. who wants to live where there are no jobs, and where there are jobs, there are none that allow for growth. very few jobs are more than just the basic restaurant, bar, resort misc jobs. we dont have many jobs like the mines around here anymore. (not that those jobs were great, but the pay is better) and any that will be created in the future will only be swiped up by people who have been desperate for work for years or whatever.
where were you? i ask marshall this in another post. the communities are the ones who came up with these plans. where were you? how did a plan that didnt have a school in tower even get considered? where was tower then? where was tower when the final 3 INCLUDED a new school for tower and babbit??!?! where were you? you were sitting around doing this same cry whine about losing your school. all you want is your building. and i have no IDEA why because of all the schools i have been in tower is the biggest disgrace of a building i have ever seen. not that any other one is any better, but tower is the most eyesore of a building in my opinion, and i cant see how you think that people would move there for that building, with an education that is in the bottom 10% in minnesota.
you are totally wrong. schools dont drive the town economics/population or anything else. schools are a reflection of the community as a whole because people dont choose to live in towns because of the schools, they live there because of jobs or family or other personal reasons. but ill bet you that if you took a survey, you wouldnt get 5 % of people to say that the reason they live somewhere is because of a school, especially up here. the communities are dying, and as such so are our schools. if our communities were thriving, people would be moving here, staying here and families with kids would be able to afford to live here. right now when theres no jobs, how is a family supposed to survive very long on a grocery store salary? (for example). families have to do what is best for them and their survival, and living in our dying towns isnt working for many families, yet there are many who cant leave because of being tied into a house or whatever..... so i mean theres so many factors and my head just spins trying to think of ways to explain this to you in a way you will understand! if the school moves/leaves/closes, it can do nothing but HELP our area because we will finally be able to afford to compete with our neighboring districts when it comes to resources and tools for learning and misc. right now we are in the stone age in comparison, i know it because ive seen it.
you are just being blind. you LOVE your school spirit and pride, you LOVE how convenient it is to have the school right there in your "backyard" - you LOVE being able to just walk out the door to be involved in all or any school event or whatever without having to think about whether or not you have gas in the car or whatever. thats your current reality, and it looks pretty good, and i understand your reluctance to change.
but the fact of the matter is that many families have been sending their kids on a bus to school and driving themselves to school events, logging 50 miles round trip or more a day just to support their kids. is it fair to have to drive that far? no. but its the reality of where we live. if you want a school thats close mileage to you, live in the cities, but its going to take just as long to get there in city traffic. we all live here and we all know what its like to drive distances for things. what difference does it make if all of a sudden residents of tower have to travel a little more for school? big deal, larger percentages have been doing it forever, no questions, no complaints. you choose where you live, if you want to live right on the backdoor of a school, move. its just illogical to make us all suffer because you want to be uncomfortable with the inconvenience of babbit. that road is TONS nicer than the ones i had to be on as a kid. and guess what we lived! im sure you would live too.
blah blah blah. i dont know why i bother because its like talking to the stars. do not comprehend.
Taxation without representation should be criminal. We did not vote for the plan, we voted NO by a landslide, yet we are paying for schools 60+ miles away. I am hoping that there is enough evidence of illegal activity and/or misrepresentation to void the whole deal. I am not up on the law, but the school board sure has acted like a bunch of incompetant idiots that didn't graduate from high school in Arkansas. They didn't bother to investigate planning and zoning, variences, etc. before they bought the property? As a real estate broker I find that to be a lack of "due dilegence". If they worked with a broker, there could be a lawsuit. Although, if the "buyers" didn't ask the questions, we are screwed. There has to be something we can do to leave the Southern half to themselves financially as I think a lot of hanky panky was done by all, including Johnson Controls. Talk about the fox guarding the hen house! Gee.... Mr. contractor, should we fix up the old buildings or build new ones? What do you think the answer would be??? Plus, we paid them millions to guarantee to more work for themselves? No wonder our school district is in trouble with a bunch of unthinking people on the board.