[Winona Online Democracy]
Linda Fort recently referenced a column she wrote for the Winona Daily
news as the crux of an argument against the school district. This
article can be found at:
<http://www.winonadailynews.com/articles/2005/11/02/opinion/
commcol02.txt>
Many of the issues raised in that column are being raised here.
Linda Fort wrote:
Of course there should be fewer teachers. There are fewer students.
There should be fewer buildings because there are fewer students.
The district has been cutting teachers left and right. I never attended
a class with more than 32 persons. List member Dwayne Voegeli recently
wrote that he had a class of 44. With declining enrollment class sizes
would decline without cuts of teachers and sections. Class sizes have
increased rather than decline as your example may suggest. Clearly
teachers are being cut faster than the rate of the decline of students.
Further, front page articles in the Wdn have noted several times since
2001, 861 Cuts X number of teachers.
Linda implies the district has not cut teachers with her column. The
district made staff reductions, the district behaved as the ordinary
taxpayers of her column would behave, yet she asserts they have not
behaved as ordinary taxpayers and provides no proof of her statement.
The district made cuts, but if the assertion is to lay more teachers
off, why is there no number of cuts proposed. This argument is
unreasonable because it is framed so the author is "always right"
because the demands are unclear.
Linda Fort wrote:
And suddenly the district can save more than $7,000 a month in
electricity? Why weren’t they doing this all along? Does anyone know?
I recently read an article in Forbes that stated that major
corporations also have not taken a careful examination of electricity
mainly because electricity still possesses an intangibility that makes
it hard to measure in common terms. If it is measured it is managed,
but kilowatts are very foreign to most people. It also noted that
electricity is starting to get managed, but it is still difficult to
quantify.
Can you tell me what the difference is between a $141 and $148
electrical bills is? I can tell you that the difference is
approximately 5%, but to quantify that in the runtime of light bulbs or
any other appliance, I cannot.
The implication of waste is interesting, but the waste is not as much
as one may expect. The $84,000 savings in electricity expenses saves
the district 0.2% of its total budget. (Based on Linda's number from
the Wdn column.)
Linda Fort wrote:
Don’t threaten me with not caring about children. Anyone who knows me
knows better than that. Learn to live within your means; every
taxpayer/voter has to.
You can call it what you want, but in the end, if the school system is
pathetic people will vote with their feet especially when there are two
charter schools, two private schools, and easily accessible PSEO
options.
Linda Fort wrote:
Would I vote “yes” to a smaller amount of tax increase? I sincerely
don’t know. I would have to see a lot less wastefulness. If this is
really about the children — wouldn’t the teachers and all staff agree
to a wage freeze for the duration of the referendum?
It is written that waste is highly apparent. Yet, on Wod and in the WDN
your examples amount to hearsay. I do not see this waste and apparently
others do not either. If there is waste, telling us that waste is
highly apparent without tangible examples will only further convince
those in disagreement to you that they are correct in believing that
there is no waste.
A school board member once said, in context, we have stopped cutting
fat and we are now cutting bone.
Linda Fort wrote:
To those taxpayers who are in favor of this referendum: There is no
reason you cannot donate your $900 each year if the referendum fails.
I am sure the district will find a way to spend it.
For my dwelling the increase of property tax will be no where near
$900. What is the origin of this $900 figure?
Linda Fort wrote:
If the Winona school district has a budget of $40 million dollars and
has 3,800 students enrolled that amounts to more than $10,000 per
student per year. What home schooling parent wouldn’t love to have
$10,000 to teach their child? What private, charter or parochial
school wouldn’t love to have that kind of budget available, and yet we
are being told over and over it is not enough. When will it ever be
enough? It hasn’t been enough since I have been old enough to vote.
Am I to read this as you stating that not only are you voting against
the referendum, but you believe it is possible to run the district for
much less than its current budget? If so, how much less and how.
********************************************
David Dittmann
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