Carlton will do impact study alone

The Carlton school board decided on Monday to go it alone on a $3,000 study that would determine what district residents would pay in taxes if a consolidation with Wrenshall should ever come to fruition. The financial impact study would pinpoint how taxes would be affected for residents in both districts as they put fund balances and debts together.

It’s something Carlton and Wrenshall board members have said should have been done in the process of providing information to residents about the consolidation. On Monday, Carlton members said getting the impact statement done by Ehlers, the consultant in the consolidation process, simply fell through the cracks in the rush to meet timelines for the consolidation framed by state mandates and the possibility of state funding.

Wrenshall recently passed on doing the study. Board members there want to see if the legislature will eventually pass a bonding bill or tax bill that would include a measure allowing the state to fund large portions of the cost associated with school consolidations. Without it, a consolidation effort would be stalled and any study moot.

Carlton and Wrenshall have a plan that would cost about $38 million to shore up buildings to accommodate students. The state measure would allow some 40 percent of that to come from state funding.

Carlton board members said they would ask Wrenshall to foot half the cost of the tax impact study after the vote. The study is expected to take Ehlers a few weeks to complete, using about 10 hours of staff time. Both districts agreed in past resolutions that they would not proceed with consolidation unless there was state funding involved.

A third special session ended earlier this week with no resolution on the bills. Yet another special session is scheduled for August but legislators have indicated that major sticking points remain before any bills are agreed on.

Plan B

The Carlton board whittled its list of options for the district should things go awry in the consolidation process. Carlton faces flagging enrollment and consequent dwindling finances. The consolidation is expected to bolster both schools through higher student populations and more learning options.

Through a somewhat arduous process of ranked-choice voting on two set of five options, the board ended up with two palatable options per scenario:

If the state funding does not materialize, the district would lean toward getting a bill passed early next year in a new legislative session. It could also abandon consolidation efforts and move on independently.

If state funding does come, but voters vote down a bond referendum, the district would work toward getting another referendum passed that is more palatable to residents. It could also abandon consolidation and convert South Terrace into a K-8 school and release high school students to Cloquet under a tuition agreement. It would require construction at the school to accommodate more students.