In the November elections with big races for governor, U.S. Senate and the state Legislature, school referendums often are a voter's afterthought, a confusing little box lost on a giant ballot.

That won't happen this year, at least not in places like Richfield.

As one of at least 25 Twin Cities-area districts that on Nov. 5 will ask voters to raise tax money for school operations or buildings, Richfield will wrap trees in bright red ribbons to make its cause stand out in the sea of campaign yard signs. And there won't be any hemming and hawing about the cost of defeat.

After a similar measure failed last year, people told the district they hadn't understood the cuts that would follow.

This time around, Richfield is telling residents exactly what to expect if this year's measure fails: bigger class sizes, teacher layoffs, less support for reading and basic skills and cuts in gifted education and elementary bus service.

"We're walking a fine line, because now we may be criticized for threatening," said Richfield Superintendent Barbara Devlin.

Many of the districts with excess-levy votes and bond issues on the ballot are being more direct in this fall's campaign than they were in the past. Sixteen of the 25 are returning to voters after being denied money a year ago. Subtlety, they found out, doesn't pay off when voters are balancing their pocketbooks against vague warnings of cutbacks.

Buffalo schools are going back to voters with a measure that would raise a bit over $2 million each year for 10 years.

"This last time, people came up to us and said, 'We didn't know that would be cut,' " said Superintendent Tom Nelson. "We're being fairly specific on what we might have to cut if we're not successful."

Not all districts with pinched finances chose to go back to voters this year. In South Washington County, a growing district that had one of its two levies approved by voters last year, a divided school board decided there was not enough community support for a referendum this fall and no time to educate voters on why it was needed.

"Stay tuned, because whatever the Legislature does, if it's not adequate we will more than likely be out there again in fall 2003," said Superintendent John Regan.

Election trends would seem to give districts reason to be cautious. Last year, two-thirds of the metro-area school measures failed, said Scott Croonquist, executive director of the Association of Metropolitan School Districts. And the bigger turnouts linked to general elections and attention-grabbing state races tend to make it more difficult for school districts to get their measures passed.

But last spring's cuts of everything from busing to teachers have given districts ammunition they didn't have before, Croonquist said.

"Last year voters really didn't have a good sense of what the school district funding situation was," he said. "This year they have a very good idea, so the hope is they will be more receptive to these funding requests."

Getting specific

The Minnesota Education League, a nonprofit group that supports expanded choice and accountability, last week urged school districts to be specific in how money from excess levies will be spent and what communities can expect from that spending, as well as how money can be saved. Randy Wanke , the group's executive director, said he hoped districts would avoid "scare tactics" by talking only about possible cuts.

In Buffalo, the tax increase would allow the district to keep all its programs and hold down increases on such things as athletic participation fees, which have jumped 150 percent over two years, said Nelson.

Last spring, the district made $1.4 million in cuts. Music and physical education teachers were laid off, reducing the frequency of those classes at the middle school from every day to every other day. In a community that values music, Nelson said, people reacted strongly.

Richfield's tax increase would raise roughly $1.43 million each year for 10 years. Last year, the district narrowly lost two measures -- one to raise operating monies, the other to fund mostly technology.

Devlin said the district decided to seek only operating monies this year. Last year the district warned that defeat would mean class sizes could grow, but didn't get much more specific.

"One of the fairly frequent comments is that people felt we . . . should be more specific," she said. So the district is doing that. For example, it costs $240 now to play football in high school. If the levy is approved, the district might be able to lower those fees to match rates in surrounding districts.

In the last three years, the district has cut $4.5 million in a budget that now totals about $30 million.

"We know the task is daunting, but we can't wait [to raise money]," she said. "We are going to be publicizing the significance of those Spartan red ribbons around the city. We hope those ribbons will stand out from the signs."

-- Mary Jane Smetanka is at smetan@startribune.com .