The last attempt, during the Nov. 5 general election, failed with 689 yes to 745 no.

“We were shocked. I was devastated — would be the word actually — because we know how critical it is for this district. And another devastating part of it was that all the districts around us that were going for referendums were all approved. So that was disappointing,” said District Administrator Lynn Stankevich, referring to operational referendums for Niagara, Florence County and Goodman-Armstrong Creek schools.

The Beecher-Dunbar-Pembine referendum on the April 1 ballot seeks to exceed the district revenue limit by $800,000 for the next five years. The current $575,000 per year referendum ends June 30, so it would be an increase of $225,000, or 39 cents per $1,000 of property value.

“We need the referendum to keep our doors open,” Stankevich said. “It’s important for our taxpayers to understand that we need this operational referendum to pass. You can’t go back and do another ask until April 2026 and by then our referendum already falls off and our deficit gets bigger. It’s critical.”

VOTERS IN THE Beecher-Dunbar-Pembine School District approved an operational referendum Tuesday during spring elections. (Marguerite Lanthier/Daily News photo)

“One of the things that we can see (is) even with the referendum amount, we still ran deficits. I don’t think anyone could have predicted that, with the pandemic and inflationary increases,” business manager Bryan Kadlaz said.

One of the problems, he said, is the revenue limit is out of date. “There’s a point where the per-pupil increase had some inflationary increase on it but that was pulled away,” Kadlaz said. “The formula just does not keep up.”

State funding has also dropped off for most school districts.

Stankevich said the district has remained steady with 248 students and about 60 employees. They will face cuts in programming and staff without the referendum.

Town hall community meetings are scheduled at 6 p.m. today at the Pembine School; March 13 at the Pembine Town Hall; and March 18 at the Dunbar Town Hall.

Marguerite Lanthier can be reached at 906-774-3500, ext. 85242, or mlanthier@ironmountaindailynews.com.