--- Jim Mork <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > The > comment that they are laying off teachers by itself may not mean much > IF the > teaching staff has fewer students to educate. The statement that > class > sizes are going up would seem, on the surface, to indicate there is > less > money per student, but it could be that this was a decision to offset > the > special education and other targeted cuts. And it seems to me that > when you > have such cuts, education was not "held harmless" as the Pawlenty > administration tried to claim.
I think Jim hits at a big part of the problem in this discussion. There are many definitions for the same words. There are also a ton of ways to measure school spending. So is a cut a decrease in total dollars, a decrease in total dollars adjusted for inflation (or some other measure of costs) or just not getting what we think we need? Should we measure spending on a total dollar basis or a per student basis? Should we adjust the per student basis for high cost students such as special ed? Then, what exactly does "hold harmless" mean? Does it mean we aren't cutting by some combination of the definitions above or does it simply mean we're giving you what we think you should be spending? Unless we are providing clear definitions of the words we are using, I don't see this discussion getting anywhere. Terrell Brown Loring Park terrell at terrellbrown dot org __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! SiteBuilder - Free, easy-to-use web site design software http://sitebuilder.yahoo.com REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. ________________________________ 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
