Lake Crystal Wellcome Memorial Schools seeks operating levy to avoid further budget cuts

LAKE CRYSTAL, Minn. (KEYC) - Lake Crystal Wellcome Memorial Schools is asking the community to vote yes on an operating levy during its 2026 referendum on Nov. 3.

Superintendent Brett Benson said the levy, if approved, would provide an extra $391 per student, per year for the next decade.

With around 905 students, it would add an extra $400,000 to the school’s budget every year.

Benson said the referendum became necessary after the district already had to cut $600,000 from its budget over the past two years due to falling enrollment and rising expenses.

Those cuts have raised class sizes in the district’s elementary school from 16 to 20 to 18 to 24, and caused the district to cut its German language program after the previous teacher retired, leaving the foreign language program with only Spanish as an option.

Coming out of the last school year, Benson said the district had 76 seniors graduate, and 64 kindergartners enroll, causing a net loss of 12 students for enrollment.

Benson said enrollment has been falling over the past several years due to more people moving out of Lake Crystal, and some families opting to enroll their students in neighboring districts or home school instead.

Despite the drop in enrollment that has come with the trend, the district said it is trying to find ways to avoid further cuts that could affect other programs like Career and Technical Education, classroom support, special education, and activities like sports and the arts.

“We’re asking for it because we have to ask for it, its not because it is something we would like to have, we’re asking because its something we need,” Benson said.

Without the levy, the superintendent said more cuts are guaranteed for the district.

“What those are? We’re kind of working on different scenarios,” Benson said.

Unlike the building referendum which passed back in 2024, Lake Crystal said these funds wouldn’t be adding any new services, the only goal would be to maintain existing programs.

The district said the increase in cost for an average home in the community would be around $134 per year or almost $12 a month.

While many community members weren’t comfortable sharing their thoughts with KEYC about the proposal, those who were spoke in favor of the plan.

“I generally vote for every school referendum, because I like having smart neighbors,” David Roder said.

Kent Thiesse, a former school board member, said he was always in favor of district referendums.

“I guess I look at rural communities, the one thing we can still hang onto, is trying to provide quality education to our young people.” Thiesse said.

To learn more about the referendum, the district has created a Q&A on its website.

Click here to download the KEYC News Now app or our KEYC First Alert weather app.