Parents, school board quarrel over petition for Anoka-Hennepin school tax

The fight for school funding continues for families in Minnesota's largest school district. 

Parents in the Anoka-Hennepin School District gathered more than 3,000 signatures calling for a tax increase to address a $22 million budget shortfall.

Parents For Good said the school board rejected its petition, but the district said Minnesota law doesn't allow a voter petition to put a levy on the ballot.

Following the district's statement, Parents For Good said it "stepped up because the board has failed to act with the urgency our students, educators, staff, families, and community deserve."

"This petition exists because the community is doing what the board should have done," the group said.  

The school board will take the petition under consideration before making a final decision next month.

The district's 30-plus schools serve nearly 40,000 students in more than a dozen metro communities, including Andover, Anoka, Blaine, Brooklyn Center, Brooklyn Park, Champlin, Coon Rapids, Dayton and Nowthen. It welcomed new superintendent Greg Cole in May and reached a contract agreement in January with members of Anoka Hennepin Education Minnesota who sought higher wages and better healthcare.