NEAT - info about SPPS budget: http://tinyurl.com/3gt66 _________________________________________ Tim has inadvertantly pointed out one of the problems with communicating complicated issues in this forum (measured, Socratic case building is impossible) which forces me to jump ahead a bit.
Tim points out correctly that given our system of local control (which I heartily approve of)community values will largely drive the focus of public education within the local community. I am sure that most of the participants of this forum, active or not, will find little fault with what I have described. There is no fault to be found with this in and of itself; the majority rightly rules. However having said that and given the history of distortion and misrepresentation that I have uncovered within the district's public communications I am not at all sure that the "community at large" knows the story much less would agree with the focus of SPPS schools non-academic spending: but for the purposes of this discussion I will assume it does. The Minnesota constitution mandates a uniform system of public education for children living in Minnesota. And while I'm perfectly aware that the definition of "education" differs from locality to locality, I highly doubt that the spending I have highlighted that district 625 engages in could be construed as directly contributing to academics. It is spending towards mostly socio-political or purely political goals, ie: It isn't meant to help Kao or Shaniqua read and write. But as I've alluded to earlier regarding local discretionary spending, I'm fully in favor of each district deciding it's own priorities. My point, ill prepared as it is under the forced circumstance is that I find it very hard to find sincerity in the mournful and often vitriolic rhetoric of those who lay off teachers, cut school hours or close schools while protecting such parochial priorities. None-the-less, these issues are as I said tactical in nature and won't solve the srategic problems facing public education. More on that later. 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/
