Eastern Carver County Schools to ask voters for 10-year operating levy

Dr. Rapke, superintendent of Eastern Carver County Schools, told the Chaska City Council on Monday that the district’s school board has voted to place a 10-year operating levy on the Nov. 4 ballot that would ask for $742 per pupil with annual increases tied to inflation. The ballot question, Dr. Rapke said, would cost the owner of a median-valued home in the district — currently about $500,000, he said — about $23 per month if the referendum passes. “We have two choices. We either budget cut or cost contain or raise revenue. And so that's where we've landed, to go out for a referendum,” he said. The referendum is intended to shore up long-running gaps between state education funding and rising costs, Dr. Rapke told the council. He said the district has taken steps to limit administrative spending but still projects about $6.5 million in budget cuts…