24 million dollars! This is the latest bad news for the children of Saint Paul.
It is however nothing new; revenue for St. Paul Schools and all schools in this
state have been short for more then five years. Saint Paul has made over $40
million in cuts in the last few years. The central office has made many cuts
and reorganized to be more efficient with the dollars available and every
single school has made difficult and painful choices. This district has cut
staff and programs. There has not been any waste in a number of years now.
The solution to this problem is so simple it escapes many. We need to pay for
what society demands of public education. Our schools in this city now service
the most diverse community any where in this country. In the time my children
have been in school we have added computer labs, more challenging courses to
meet the needs of an ever changing and challenging world. In this same time the
price of electricity, heating oil, and health care have sky rocketed. Over the
past 5 years the inflation rate has gone up about 3 percent a year and the
real dollar increase to education in this same time has been 1 percent per
year. If we do not pay the bill we will continue to see deficits and cut
programs.
The Saint Paul School system is very efficient and does a great job
controlling costs. It is the largest district in the state but its
administrative costs are in the bottom half of all districts. This is not a
problem of bad choices or management. This is a priority issue. Children are
our future and we either give them the tools to succeed or they will fail us
and we will continue to fail them. The diversity of our community means we must
offer very diverse educational choices. Instead because of the no new tax
pledge made by those who seem only to care about the wealthy and business we
are destroying what has always been the back bone of our democracy and our
economy. That back bone is a highly educated citizenry. Are there real issues
that must be dealt with in the area of student achievement and the achievement
gap; of course. Spending millions more on new test alone will not fix this but
this is our current course of action in this country.
If you feel as I do that Public Education is the job of this state to properly
and fully fund then start writing and organizing. Join NEAT and the Parents
United Network make it clear the future cannot be built on the cheap. Children
are never a waste of capitol they are the best investment this state can make.
We the people must decide for better schools properly funded or more failed
young people will fall thru the gaps and instead of contributing will only be
able to take from society.
Saint Paul can insist on a new referendum and continue to pick up the share
the state and federal government refuse to pay or we simply watch as schools
are closed and many more teachers are let go and many more programs cut. The
answer is simple and in this time very unpopular pay the bills we have nothing
left we can afford to cut. That is how I see the issue.
Brian Joyce
West Side
p.s. I have been a Site Council co-Chair, Co Chair of the District's Citizens
finance committee, a School Board Candidate and currently the chair of NEAT's
finance committee.
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