Terrell Brown posited:
> 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.
That is an interesting possibility. I wonder if anyone could
say if that is true or not. The property tax dollars for schools
on our bills go to our schools. But you're saying the income tax
we pay (that portion which goes to schools, vs. transport or the Governor
Mansion upkeep or whatever) is more than what the state pays to the Mpls School
District... I'm not sure. We do get a lot, since we have such great diversity here and
various high need populations. There are still several
areas where our funding per pupil or whatever is less than in the burbs where
the need is lower. For instance, we use our Assurance of Mastery allocation to make up
for the Title I funding running out, while free/reduced lunch kids in most burbs (if
not all) get both fund amounts for their school. Given the high proportion of school
money which comes to us, and our income tax revenue vs. income tax revenue generated
in, say, Eagan, I don't know. But that would be interesting to find out.
>
> 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.
Yes, that's one of the tools we use in the Citizen's Budget
Advisory Council (if I'm thinking of the same thing). If anyone wants the URL where it
is available online, let me know .
>
> 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.
And how much control does the school system have over those
problems? Much less than the parents and - to some extent -
the employers in the area, the transportation system here,
the health system, the social support system, etc..
Also if you had education controlled entirely locally, how would you know
that a 19-year-old from another part of the country had the same high school
education that kids here get, like if you're an employer? Uniform standards have their
place.
Claire Stokes
SW Area PC, CBAC
_______________________________________________
Minneapolis Issues Forum - Minnesota E-Democracy
Post messages to: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest option, and more:
http://e-democracy.org/mpls
