--- Jason C Stone wrote: > > I have a hard time believing that it takes salaries at those levels > to attract qualified > candidates. Methinks that needs be rethunk. >
Doug Grow put it well in the Strib: "I bounced that idea off Colleen Moriarty, a school board member. When she stopped laughing, she said, "What I'm told is that Tennessee does have elected officials who are supportive of public education." She noted that the mayor of Minneapolis does not send his kids to the city's public schools. Then, of course, there's Gov. Tim Pawlenty. What can you say about our governor when it comes to supporting public education, especially in urban districts?" [TB] I don't think the salaries are high considering the amount of responsibility. She's got 40some thousand students, a couple of thousand teachers and a budget of a few hundred million dollars. We've got a Governor and Legislature that love to bash urban school districts. It comes from the same "leadership" that says there isn't enough money yet speaks with pride that the parents of every school age kid are getting a check for a few hundred bucks per kid as a way of insuring that the government never has any money to pay for the schools. I guess I don't see the logic in it. I'm somewhat surprised given the signs around town that saying that people are willing to pay for a better Minnesota that Minneapolis Public Schools haven't started a campaign to get people to donate those $400 per kid checks to support the kid's education. $400 per kid for 40,000 kids is $16 million, get even a quarter of that and you can do something impressive. As for the Mayor, he made his statement long ago when he decided to forgo the public schools for his kids. I'd hate to be the kids if he were to try to make another statement by pulling them out of Breck (or Blake). Supt. Johnson has had a long career in Minneapolis and has served us well. She will certainly be missed. Its still an attractive job that will find many qualified people as candidates. Terrell Brown Loring Park __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! SiteBuilder - Free, easy-to-use web site design software http://sitebuilder.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, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
