--- List Manager <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Forwarded on behalf of Minneapolis Public Schools > Superintendent Carol > Johnson. > > June 28, 2003 > > To The Editor: > > Saturday's A1 article, "A Great Divide Between > Districts", seeks to > explain how Minneapolis and St. Paul schools are > facing quite different > budget scenarios for the coming year. Regrettably, > the story falls far short > of that goal. > > Reporters Allie Shah and Jim Walsh did create > another opportunity > for valuable community discourse about the > priorities Minneapolis and St. > Paul residents have for their public schools. In > recent years, Minneapolis > has prioritized smaller classes, school choice and > community schools. We > have already begun a planning process to engage the > public as we try to > simultaneously cut costs and increase achievement > for all students. As we > embark on this effort we should not assume that two > urban school communities > that have some similarities would prioritize exactly > the same investments. > > Irresponsible, perhaps even lazy, reporting led > to the use of data > that lacked analytical context and appeared to be > intentionally misleading. > This is particularly troubling since readers are > left with the impression > that Minneapolis Public Schools spends a significant > amount more on > administration than does St. Paul. > > In fact, according to data the Star Tribune > received from the state > (not reported in the story) both Minneapolis and St. > Paul spend roughly the > same amount for district support services > (administrative costs not in > schools) of $12.6 and $11.6 million respectively. > Deloitte-Touche, the > independent auditing firm used by both Minneapolis > and St. Paul, continues > to report that Minneapolis is lean, not "top heavy" > as the article suggests, > spending just four percent on its budget on > administrative staff. > > More than 90 percent of the "administrative" > costs referenced in the > story are actually costs related to people who work > in the schools with > students and families: principals, school > secretaries, attendance clerks, > security staff and the like. Given the fact that > Minneapolis has 32 more > schools and transports 8,000 more students, it is > only logical that we would > spend more on such staff. > > We recognize that school finance is a complex > topic and even well > intentioned people can have a difficult time > interpreting the data to create > apples to apples comparisons. And we are hopeful > that Governor Pawlenty's > school finance reform effort will demystify this > topic. This article would > have benefited from such clarity. > > Our regret is that naive readers may use this > information to draw > erroneous conclusions about Minneapolis' fiscal > integrity. That would be > tragic not only for Minneapolis Public Schools, but > for public education as > a whole. > > Respectfully, > > Dr. Carol R. Johnson > Superintendent, Minneapolis Public Schools > > > Cc: Maureen McCarthy > Lou Gelfand > Allie Shah and Jim Walsh > > TEMPORARY REMINDER: > 1. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. > 2. If you don't like what's being discussed here, > don't complain - change the subject (Mpls-specific, > of course.) > > ________________________________ > > Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic > Discussion - Mn E-Democracy > Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls Last week Mr.Jennings stated that they were adding another four admin. positions that had no direct contact with students,hmmm.. I believe the mpls school system has a track record of hiring many more administrators than justifiable, two examples are; Mr.Jennings himself who has no educational backround in either business or education and yet he was chosen to run a school system. How many coo's are there in the state school systems? In speaking with a teacher who was working at Edison for the summer she mentioned that for three hundred students there were eight administrators working the school. I am sure all this will be neatly explained away as always and I don't mean to belittle Ms. Johnson who I believe deeply cares about the quality of education in mpls, I do think she inherited a system of stacking administrators without regard to the cost/benefit of such hirings. I would hope someone could bring in honestly outside folks to assess the situation and adjust it accordingly,perhaps some business group would do this pro bono. Dain Lyngstad Phillips/edina
__________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? SBC Yahoo! DSL - Now only $29.95 per month! http://sbc.yahoo.com TEMPORARY REMINDER: 1. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. 2. If you don't like what's being discussed here, don't complain - change the subject (Mpls-specific, of course.) ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
