For More Info About School Budget: http://tinyurl.com/3gt66 _________________________________________
In a few installments I�d like to explain my views on the challenges that face public education. What is important for participants of this forum to realize is that from my discussions with �ex-consumers� public education I really have not met many people who wish for the demise of public education; I certainly do not. More often, I hear from people who are disparaged with the system. People who leave the system do so for a variety of reasons, but the fact is that they are leaving; and if we really do care about public education, we must be willing to examine the system as it stands with a critical eye. SPPS budget woes stem from several issues, however lack of funds is not one of them. Minnesota spends more than half of it�s budget on education; that is BILLIONS of dollars. The public schools in Minnesota have never faced a cut in funding, in fact previously to last year funding has exceeded inflation by at least 6% for the past 9 years according to the Department of Education. In 2002, the district received more than $12,000.000 per student. The problem is not money. It is how and where the money is being spent. As Mr. Hill correctly pointed out, district 625 has made it�s political partnerships a budgetary priority. The American Federation of Teachers (union) currently enjoys the benefits of having three hand-picked board members seated; in fact the wife of SPFT(AFT local) president Ian Keith was one members campaign chairwoman. In addition, the Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure board issued a ruling last year that found District 625 had violated campaign finance laws by illegally making a political contribution to Progressive Minnesota PAC. The favor was returned by PM spearheading the last levy referendum, an effort which Ramsey County Attorney Susan Gardner said did not quite meet her definition of criminal, but concluded was �deceptive and misleading�. In 2002, following a request by SEIU Local 284, the board voted to enforce it�s �right to organize� policy to assist the local�s efforts to unionize school bus drivers. Board Chairman was quoted as saying he wanted to �put some teeth� into the policy. The fact that the board was fully aware this decision guaranteed higher costs, whether the union was successful or not, apparently did not overly concern them. Here are some other miscellaneous non-academically related expenditures: District 625 spends $95,000 per year on a legislative lobbyist. Personally, I have not detected a problem for any school district administrative staff member in contacting or speaking with any legislator. District 625 spends approximately $3,000,000.00 per year for its 5 Area Superintendents, their support staff and overhead. District 625 spends approximately $300,000.00 per year to pay for on-site reproductive health services to Health Start. Oddly enough, this arrangement was concluded at a time when a SPPS board member also sat on the Health Start Board of Directors. District 625 spends more than $90,000.00 per year to fund the �Out for Equity� program mentioned by Mr. Skrbec. Out for Equity seeks to inculcate an appreciation for homosexuality among the districts K-12 students. This is an expenditure that past Chairman Al Oertwig has said is off the budgetary discussion table, period. These are examples of tactical financial extravagances. They do have a role to play in SPPS budget woes; and redirecting these misdirected funds will help, but there is an elephant in the room that must be addressed before public education is secure: The role of blue collar teachers unions in education. I will address this issue next. Thomas Swift __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail SpamGuard - Read only the mail you want. http://antispam.yahoo.com/tools _____________________________________________ SPPS Budget Reduction Forum - Feb. 23-27 Co-Sponsored By NEAT: http://www.stpaulneat.org/ _____________________________________________ NEW ADDRESS FOR LIST: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To subscribe, modify subscription, or get your password - visit: http://www.mnforum.org/mailman/listinfo/stpaul Archive Address: http://www.mnforum.org/mailman/private/stpaul/
