The McLeod West School District in Brownton will attempt to pass an operating levy in November, and school officials say if it doesn't pass, the district will cease to exist after this school year.

Tonight district officials met with community members to discuss the upcoming referendum.  McLeod West currently sends their ninth through twelfth grade students to the Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop school district after the older portion of the school was declared unsafe, and that loss of revenue, along with the money lost on 20 other students to open enrollment, will leave the district two million dollars in debt by the end of the school year.

Tonight, McLeod West officials met with community members to explain the situation, take questions and comments from the audience, and stress the importance of the referendum.

Russ Victorian says, "How do we convince all the parents of students tot not just open-enroll and go with the tuition out?"  Mona Geier says, "We have five years to pay off the debt and that's just the McLeod West debt? Correct. So our taxes are going to double?"

McLeod West Superintendent Tony Boyer says, "We forget that our children is what education is all about. Adults get in the way of that. It's our children that we have to look out for. And we can best educate our children closest to home. That's a fact."

If the referendum passes, it will more than double property taxes for the school district.  And challenges remain for McLeod West even if the levy is passed.  The district would still need to tear down the unsafe portion of the school building, provide a kitchen and cafeteria for the students, and average more than 20 students per grade level.