[Winona Online Democracy] While I agree that income taxes should be used to fund the Operating Costs for K-12 education and Community Education I believe it could be accomplished while maintaining local control. I agree that most school boards are ill equipped to be effective contract negotiators simply because they lack continuity between contracts unlike the employee bargaining units. I would still leave the building of schools and their maintenance a property tax supported expense since it, for the most part, is a drop in the bucket compared to the operating costs. The state by negotiating the contract would be agreeing to pay for it. It would enable teachers to move from district to district without major pay ramification, would enable a state wide health benefit package, retirement etc. Local boards could still screen, hire and based on credentials enable placement onto a state established grid. Places like Edina would not have the ability to spike the grid except by hiring more experienced higher educational staff. (Master Degree) But North Minneapolis could do the same. The state could even give education "cash reimbursements" to Minnesota University graduates who teach in districts which fall in the bottom 20 percent of the state wide tests. The state could also establish state wide maximums for instruction by age group or subject. They could also provide a total dollar cap so as to allow the local boards some flexibility in staffing whereas they have some extra staff moneys for creative ideas to emerge and could be replicated. Local negotiations do not accomplish anything other than to polarize a community.
While the idea of a state width Transportation Director of School may in the long term be efficient Dennis needs to ride a school bus, to sit on the district Transportation Committee to understand moving kids is a local issue. If you allow Zoning & Planning to build subdivisions in the country you need roads to be able to handle 70 passenger buses 12 months of the year. If you are a parent and you want your child safe and you should expect it. While routes can be done efficiently with computers they need human local input. Most important parents want a phone number with a living breathing person on the other end so that when they have a question there is someone, from the school, not the bus company they can talk with. The model is also not totally new. In the 1980's the Technical College contracts were negotiated by the local school boards but funded by the state. When the state took over them over the state handles the entire negotiation process. While it may still have a campus input the state has final authority and picks up the tab. Paul Double Behalf Of Craig Brooks Sent: Sunday, June 05, 2005 6:48 AM Today's WDN had an interesting guest editorial on school funding and organization. I will paste it below. Dennis Burke has some interesting ideas, much of which should be supported by our current Governor who pushes for the efficiencies of centralization of governmental functions whenever possible (except perhaps in his own back yard of suburbia). Dennis suggests that local control is not necessary and that we should be funding our schools via the income tax. Doing away with local school boards / districts and having it all run by the state does sound like it would have to cost less in administration. Would it save money and be more efficient? If it is true that basic education curriculum, etc. is not a localized thing in our state, then what are the negatives to centralization? (BTW the State has been using its funding clout to force consolidation of small school districts for years.) Craig Brooks **************************************** A modest proposal for Minnesota schools By Dennis Burke / Winona I'm a product of our public school system, and I believe I received a good education. I have no children in the system, nor to I work for the school district, so I hope my point of view is objective. The problem seems simple to me. We need to teach our children reading, writing, arithmetic, art and science - I think of them as the three R's plus. We need teachers who can teach. We need a building for the teachers and students. It does not get more simple than this. If children learn these things reasonably well, they can go a long way in this world. High schools should concentrate on the basics and let higher education worry about the rest. The problem seems to be about money. The big problems are politics and selfishness, and many children take a back seat to this. Why politics? We hear the claim that local control is needed. Is learning how to read different in Duluth than in Winona? I don't think so. Educating children is the same there as it is here. We are not separate ethnic enclaves. What does local control have to do with educating children? Local control seems to be a relic of past centuries when long distance communication problems existed, and when communities were homogeneous in ethnic makeup and religious structure. This is no longer the case. We now live in a new age, and we need a new model for getting resources equally to all of Minnesota's children. Why selfishness? Many rich and powerful school districts in Minnesota can afford to pay more in property taxes and keep their schools state-of-the-art. It's not a big pinch for them. Their kids are getting a great education and they seem not to care about other districts' problems - except in word. It seems to come down to how we will pay for public education. Property taxes for single homeowners, in my view, are immoral. You need air to breath. You need water to drink, and you need a safe place to sleep at night. I don't have a problem with property taxes on properties that generate revenue or second homes and vacation homes. These taxes can and should be used to support our police and fire fighters. What we need is a new tax and management model for Minnesota public education. A tax model that could provide a good and equal education for all of Minnesota's children would be based on income taxes. The money is there. Increasing income taxes a little bit will not lead to a loss of jobs nor the ability to purchase a home - although the myth-spinners would have you believe otherwise. By reorganizing school management into one district - the district of Minnesota n we could save multi-millions of dollars in administrative costs. We only need one statewide curriculum director. Minnesota only needs one school transportation director, etc. Simplify and save should be our new motto. Why can't teachers just be state employees with pay adjusted for local cost of living, with graduated pay increases based on years of service. This model seems to work fine for all other government agencies. No longer would there be these crazy district contract negotiations or strikes which have a negative effect on our student population. It's not that big a problem to solve. The only problem to solve is how to overcome the growing culture of greed. Dennis Burke is a self-employed carpenter. He lives in Winona. Guest views are opinions of the author and don't necessarily reflect the views of the Winona Daily News. 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