A bitter fight over school funding has become a flash point in a larger debate about immigration and its impact on this southwestern Minnesota prairie town.

The Star Tribune reports:

Five times since 2013 the district has asked voters to approve spending millions to build more classroom space to house all the students. Each time, voters said no — the last time, in February, by just 17 votes.

Now, as the district makes its sixth request on Tuesday for more money, this city of 13,000 residents remains divided, torn between a longing for the Worthington of the past and addressing the needs of a rapidly growing and diverse population. Similar new struggles are evident around the state.

Emotions are raw, if not always publicly expressed.

“People have their minds made up,” said Linden Olson, a retired farmer and the school board treasurer. “They don’t want to hear anything else.”

In Olson’s view, the nearly $34 million bonding request, most of it slated for a new intermediate school, faces opposition from three groups: older residents, farmers concerned about taxes and “the racist element.”

“In my opinion, there is a sizable number of voters in our district that will not support any bond referendum for schools because they do not want to pay to educate ‘those kids,’ ” Olson said. “There is a very strong racist attitude that is present and that few people are willing to deal with.”

The Minnesota taxpayers will be asked to pay up or be called racists.