Since 2008, Duluth Public Schools has paid more than $300 million toward Red Plan debt service, with $175 million remaining. By the time the bonds are gone, Duluth will have spent half a billion dollars servicing a plan that shrank the district, buried its budget, and doubled property taxes.
Duluth Schools' levy creep isn’t an accident. It’s a feature of the system, baked into Minnesota law, and the district has leaned on it harder than any of its neighbors. The taxpayers? They’re the audience at a rigged show, asked to clap politely while the board insists there’s no other way.
Multiple referendums have been floated in recent years asking voters for more funding — and taxpayers have responded with a clear and resounding no. Not because we don’t support kids. We do. But because we no longer trust the system to spend responsibly.
