Kathy could most certainly be my lawyer: she's indefatigable. Plus, this is a tough call, so I'm willing to rethink this. I appreciate Kathy's respectfulness, too.
I know Minneapolis is the biggest school district in the state - it is also the biggest city in the state, so all school, urban, population, etc. policy at a regional, state and national level could be justified on that basis. That's too sweeping a precedent to establish - it will get out of control, trust me. My nag has at least forced people to identify specific Minneapolis impacts - we need to have that in this discussion. I don't think it's enough to use our slice of the state pie as justification, in other words. Here are some examples of ways I think this discussion can be made Minneapolis-specific: Do the state education budget cuts affect Minneapolis differently than other school districts because our population is different? How? Do we have a higher percentage of special-ed kids - and thus a bigger special-ed shortfall, or harm from such? How does that manifest itself in MPS? By the way, Ken Stewart's post identifying the MPS shortfall amount and linking it to MPS budget shortfall was great - in itself. However, to move forward on that thread, it needs to be framed as: What can we **as Minneapolitans** do about this? Kathy's original call to action was a statewide mass mail with no particular Minneapolis aspect identified. Had those impacts been there I would have been more sympathetic. But as noble as her intentions were, I would not allow state-level boilerplate on any number of other issues merely because they are important throughout the state. Please, tailor your mass appeals using the recommendations above - justify the Minneapolis impact. Posts here have to respect the Minneapolis-specific nature of a local discussion forum. Also - and this is a request, not a ruling - try to avoid putting members' names in subject threads...it's a welcome mat to things getting personal. It didn't happen in this case, which I appreciate, but it's a bad marker I've noticed in the past. David Brauer List manager -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] On Behalf Of kathy kosnoff Sent: Friday, January 25, 2002 12:58 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [Mpls] Mpls SpEd Funding Alert--Reply to Swift & Brauer Don't mean to lump you guys; trying to economize on space.� FIRST: Swift is simply dead wrong.� Very specific changes slashing dollars to very specific service�categories and populations are itemized--and it's brutal to very real human beings.� His previous message is incorrect and misleading.� He should do his homework, go online and read the governor's budget--as�should others concerned about the impact of this proposed _________________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com _______________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A Civil City Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest option, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
