Voters in the Albert Lea School District shot down the levy referendum. Meanwhile, the voters of Freeborn County favored Mike Hatch over Tim Pawlenty.

That says something about education. It says they don&8217;t like being in the position of having to use voter-approved levies to fix the state&8217;s education mess. The voters want the state to fix it.

We hope state legislators listen to the voters on this point. Perhaps with the shift in power in St. Paul, the Legislature will act. It could be a difficult road because the power base for both parties is in the metropolitan area and the rural areas are on the difficult end of the funding formula.

Even so, it is high time the state Legislature addresses the unfair funding formula before the state courts do it for them.

Meanwhile, kids from less-privileged families in Albert Lea won&8217;t get go out for sports or extra-curricular activities because of increased fees. There will be larger class sizes. There will be less opportunity to learn music. There will be less busing and more kids walking in the cold.

There will be talented adults who don&8217;t move their families to Albert Lea because they don&8217;t like what they see for education. It will be one step harder to expand the local tax base, thereby hurting the chances of decreasing the tax burden on everyone. Apparently, too many voters saw the proposed Albert Lea school levy as just a tax. It was really an investment.

It&8217;s sad the measure didn&8217;t pass.

It&8217;s even sadder the state put us in this situation.