> Claire Stokes notes: > > I disagree that the mandates are wrong: most definitions of government > include educating the citizenry. The mandates simply set bare minimums. What > simply needs to happen is for them to be fully funded. [TB] We need to remember that there are several types of mandates. In education, some of the mandates have nothing to do with what happens in the classroom but are requirements that districts assemble and report various types of information. In general, I would rather have my local school board determine what is needed locally than have that decision made in either St. Paul or Washington, DC. The local school board and administration is much closer to the situation. I've been very impressed by Superintendent Johnson and think she has done and will continue to do much to improve Minneapolis Schools. > The only locales that could afford to entirely self-fund an adequate > education for all their children are those containing primarily well-to-do > folks, with a minimum of any kind of diversity. I don't want to live in such > a place. State-wide income tax revenue comes into Mpls through the state > funding mechanism, supplanting revenue that Mpls schools get through Mpls > property taxes. I don't think anyone supports that portion of their property > taxes doubling or tripling. Federal funds make up only about 7% of our > schools' income (roughly), which is a crime - not that they should pay more > than what they mandate but that they should fund their mandates. IMHO. [TB] With all of the tax monies flowing from the state (and to a lesser extent the feds) to both the schools and city, I think we need to look at the total state and local tax burden. If I'm going to pay a given amount of tax, it doesn't make much difference what label is put on it. I do prefer that the tax system be reasonably fair. Minneapolis and the metro area provide a huge portion of the state wide tax revenue, the income level is higher than the state wide average and we have many more businesses paying tax than in most of rural Minnesota. Minneapolis has a relatively low percentage of households with kids in school so we end up sending educational dollars out to the rural areas. The education funding formula in this state is very complex. Either the State Revenue or Finance department has published a document that runs over 100 pages that explains it. Part of the problem is that nobody understands it, and it has undergone a number of changes over the last decade with various phase in schedules. We need an adaquately funded and efficient education system. We also need to do everything we can to make sure the system works best for the kids. I heard Superintent Johnson last year say that 2 big problems are students frequently changing schools and excessive absences. If we can fix those it will have a major impact on student achievement. > By the way, from the CABC meeting last nite, calling the governer (per > Catherine Shreves' message yesterday) really is important. He needs to > change his position before the rest of the legislators can have any room to > manuever. [TB] Call and write everyone, the Governor, Commissioner and legislators. Terrell Brown Loring Park __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Auctions - Buy the things you want at great prices. http://auctions.yahoo.com/ _______________________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - Minnesota E-Democracy Post messages to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest option, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
