I agree to a large extent with what Brian is saying here, the only
philosophical difference I have here is that I believe that the STATE should
fully fund education, and yes, we will need to raise taxes somewhere, but I
fail to see how we can afford much more money being raised through
referendums and more taxation taken from the property tax rolls. I believe
that there are different, but just as expensive struggles for people in
Greater Minnesota. The school districts may be smaller and less diverse,
but to raise local taxes in these smaller districts does not make sense
unless there is a way to increase a state tax that would consider all
districts and give them the funding they need. I have traveled the state
with the former Lieutenant Governor to many school districts and have seen
the infrastructure and sparsity issues that plague Greater Minnesota,
failing family farms and the takeover by large corporate entities have
forced many small family farms to shut down and be sold off to the highest
bidder. As people move from the rural areas, those that remain cannot levy
taxation dollars because there are fewer people to share the load. Many of
the rural schools have severe infrastructure issues, and if they close
schools and consolidate with other school districts, it sometimes means a
15-30 minute jaunt on the bus ( more expense) to get the students there.
I favor seeing more property tax relief and if we see that Education is
passed to the State. The State can fully fund education and figure out what
the funding formula would be. Perhaps all that should be on the property
tax levy is infrastructure issues, such as road repair and services and fire
and police protection and plowing and tree trimming. We are soon getting to
the place in Saint Paul where more people will be taxed off of their
property, and that is not something we want to see. Yes, regardless,
everyone will pay for it, but even though Saint Paul states they haven't
raised property taxes, we all know that when they raise the value of your
home, (You've got it!) your taxes increase.
We do need to get organized. The other issues that all feed into the cost
of Education that I believe Education Minnesota should be working on, is
creating a pool of all Educational Employees statewide that would lower the
cost of health care, instead of each Local trying to get a good rate, it
simply won't happen. In addition, another route to go would be to see if
the State would enfold all public education employees into the state workers
pool for health care. The bigger the pool the less that health care should
cost the district and other districts statewide. If we could get that one
issue on the table for discussion and get to work on lobbying for this, we
may be able to get somewhere.
One parting comment. I have worked for Saint Paul Schools now for about
four years. In that four years I have served as a member of the Arlington
High School site Council and have recently been asked to take the Chair for
the Council temporarily. I have also served on numerous boards outside of
the district and have worked for many major corporations in Minnesota as
well. One thing I have learned in my travels is that sometimes it isn't
just dollars, it is how an entity is structured that can cause there to be
more expense and less efficiency. Sometimes we need to simply look at the
practicality of what we do. For instance, decentralizing some services or
processes, may be more efficient than not doing so. Centralizing other
services may make more sense when you need greater numbers to give you a
lower bottom line. In any case, although we are running lean, I DO believe
that sometimes we can find ways that may be more effective and more
efficient by streamlining or changing the way we do many of the things we
do. Allowing each school site to take on more responsibility and some
middle management intervention at the district level may not only improve
efficiency, but it would make the school sites even more responsible for how
they spend their budgeted dollars. I have a few examples, but I will not
belabor this post.
In any case, as educated parents and community members, WE DO have to get
organized and speak with every elected official we know, to affect a change.
The time is now.
Pamela Ellison
Como Park
Saint Paul
----- Original Message -----
From: "BRIAN JOYCE" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "St. Paul Issues Forum" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Sunday, December 05, 2004 9:24 PM
Subject: [StPaul] St. Paul Buget Cuts
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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