New law could boost funding for rural Minnesota schools

OTTER TAIL COUNTY, Minn. — For more than two decades, school districts in Minnesota's Lakes Country say they've been at a disadvantage when it comes to funding education. But a new law could mean hundreds of thousands of dollars in additional funding for some rural schools without raising local property taxes. In Lakes Country, cabins are a large part of the landscape. But for 25 years, they've also created a challenge for local school funding. Districts like ours have been pleading, and we've been the minority just because there aren't as many of us as there are others. And we're saying this is a disadvantage to us, said Mitch Anderson, superintendent with Perham-Dent Public Schools. Perham-Dent School District Superintendent Mitch Anderson. Barbie Porter / Perham Focus file photo In 2001, Minnesota changed how it funded schools. Seasonal recreational properties were removed from the local school operating referendum tax base, leaving year-round