Education
Getting Schooled in Minneapolis
Thursday, October 09, 2008 -Blog
You can hardly drive around Minneapolis without
seeing the distinctive yellow signs telling us to
"Vote Yes for Schools". By taking an affirmative
stance in the slogan one wonders how he or she could
possibly vote no. Vote no for schools?! Isn't that a
vote against our community and our children?
I would say that voting against the Minneapolis referendum is rather a vote of no confidence in the school board, their appropriation process, and the administration that has produced little in the last 10 years other than failure and disappointment. Rather than serving the community the district has been telling us they would spend money on one thing while spending it on another. An in depth investigation into the money spent by the district compared to what they planned to spend reveals much.
I encourage you to read up on the matter. There are several sources of information where you can turn to learn more about the performance of our schools. Click on through the links below to find out more.
Getting Schooled: A MN Sons of Liberty Research Committee Report
Budget vs. Actual Spending by the Minneapolis Public Schools
Coalition of MN Businesses Special Schools Report
MN State Accountability Reports
14 Year General Education Revenues FY 1996 - FY 2009
I would say that voting against the Minneapolis referendum is rather a vote of no confidence in the school board, their appropriation process, and the administration that has produced little in the last 10 years other than failure and disappointment. Rather than serving the community the district has been telling us they would spend money on one thing while spending it on another. An in depth investigation into the money spent by the district compared to what they planned to spend reveals much.
I encourage you to read up on the matter. There are several sources of information where you can turn to learn more about the performance of our schools. Click on through the links below to find out more.
Getting Schooled: A MN Sons of Liberty Research Committee Report
Budget vs. Actual Spending by the Minneapolis Public Schools
Coalition of MN Businesses Special Schools Report
MN State Accountability Reports
14 Year General Education Revenues FY 1996 - FY 2009
Vote Yes? ... No!
Monday, June 30, 2008 -Blog
Election Day November
4, 2008 , the Minneapolis Public School District will
put forth a levy referendum on the ballot asking area
voters for more money
Minneapolis , MN, November 4 - The Minneapolis Board of Education, at its May 13 regular meeting, approved a $60 million referendum to be placed on the Election Day ballot in November. On Nov. 4, 2008 , voters will have the opportunity to vote on the referendum, aimed at providing funding for improving literacy, preparing students for algebra in eighth grade, providing up-to-date technology and textbooks and managing class size.
Education Minnesota and their union affiliates, most notably through the Strong Schools Strong City campaign whose committee members are largely comprised of education employees, are already ramping up a huge “Vote Yes” campaign appealing for the need of additional funding from area voters. But, the looming question remains, with an increasing decline in enrollment, will voters bite?
Area voters in this community deserve answers from the school district. This request runs roughshod considering the district’s current budget is up over $60 million from their previous 2006-2007 budget despite losing over 3,000 enrollees for current school year. The district has seen a 25.6% decline in enrollment over the past ten and yet their budget has continually gone up. Even the district’s own school board member Tom Madden concluded enrollment would be around 29,500 total enrollees in a mere four years. I’m hopeful that this constant decline in enrollment coupled with nearly a dozen area school closings since 2005, which were then put up for sale at a significant loss, is going to give voters great pause for concern with respect to their pocketbooks. The board members put forth a plan to the parents when they closed these schools; schools whose operating costs the district no longer has to contend with. They were certain their plan would work. And now, merely a year after their plan, they’re coming to voters for more money at a time when families are paying higher food and fuel costs.
With a total enrollment of 37,865 for the 2006-2007 school year, the Minneapolis School District’s 2006-2007 $637 million budget broke down to $16,821 per student. But, while the current budget is up $60 million, total enrollment is down by more than three-thousand students bringing the figure to over $20,000 per student. Moreover, though the school district’s own budget document reports, “Enrollment continues to decline with an anticipated decrease of 1600 students”, it is unclear if the additional decline in enrollment is in addition to what this year’s total enrollment reflects leaving the cost to be potentially higher.
With the “Vote Yes” campaign certain to cite a shortage in state funding for area schools, and its inability to keep pace with inflation, as the argument for putting forth the November levy referendum, Department of Finance figures, for the current biennium, show state funding for K-12 up 3.1% over the previous biennium. Their October 2007 K-12 education report further cites the percentage would have been higher were it not for K-12 accounting shift buy backs in FY 2006-2007 accounting for a total of $1.1 billion between November 2004 and February 2006. The buybacks are a direct result of inflated spending in those years. However, despite the buy backs, additional statistics from the findings reported that, “From 1991 to 2009, district general fund revenue per student (as measured by average daily membership or ADM ) is expected to grow from $4,767 to $9,651 - an increase of 102.4% (28.2% after accounting for inflation).”
Back in August of 2007, the Northside Initiative’s Director Ben Perry, said of the school closing initiative, “In June of 2008, the results will be seen. This will succeed.” The Board of Education’s chairperson Pam Costain, echoed Perry’s optimism by declaring, “I have great confidence that this plan will work. It will work because we have strong leadership in the schools.”
The only “results” the citizens of North Minneapolis are seeing from this “strong leadership in the schools” comes down as a request for $60 million in addition funds. That sounds, to me, like more of a plea than it does leadership.
I have a different idea about strong leadership. Strong leadership means accountability for results and responsibility for actions. Voters have shouldered the burden of good intentions long enough. What the voters deserve are results and I’m committed to holding the district’s leadership accountable when their intended results go unmet.
Minneapolis , MN, November 4 - The Minneapolis Board of Education, at its May 13 regular meeting, approved a $60 million referendum to be placed on the Election Day ballot in November. On Nov. 4, 2008 , voters will have the opportunity to vote on the referendum, aimed at providing funding for improving literacy, preparing students for algebra in eighth grade, providing up-to-date technology and textbooks and managing class size.
Education Minnesota and their union affiliates, most notably through the Strong Schools Strong City campaign whose committee members are largely comprised of education employees, are already ramping up a huge “Vote Yes” campaign appealing for the need of additional funding from area voters. But, the looming question remains, with an increasing decline in enrollment, will voters bite?
Area voters in this community deserve answers from the school district. This request runs roughshod considering the district’s current budget is up over $60 million from their previous 2006-2007 budget despite losing over 3,000 enrollees for current school year. The district has seen a 25.6% decline in enrollment over the past ten and yet their budget has continually gone up. Even the district’s own school board member Tom Madden concluded enrollment would be around 29,500 total enrollees in a mere four years. I’m hopeful that this constant decline in enrollment coupled with nearly a dozen area school closings since 2005, which were then put up for sale at a significant loss, is going to give voters great pause for concern with respect to their pocketbooks. The board members put forth a plan to the parents when they closed these schools; schools whose operating costs the district no longer has to contend with. They were certain their plan would work. And now, merely a year after their plan, they’re coming to voters for more money at a time when families are paying higher food and fuel costs.
With a total enrollment of 37,865 for the 2006-2007 school year, the Minneapolis School District’s 2006-2007 $637 million budget broke down to $16,821 per student. But, while the current budget is up $60 million, total enrollment is down by more than three-thousand students bringing the figure to over $20,000 per student. Moreover, though the school district’s own budget document reports, “Enrollment continues to decline with an anticipated decrease of 1600 students”, it is unclear if the additional decline in enrollment is in addition to what this year’s total enrollment reflects leaving the cost to be potentially higher.
With the “Vote Yes” campaign certain to cite a shortage in state funding for area schools, and its inability to keep pace with inflation, as the argument for putting forth the November levy referendum, Department of Finance figures, for the current biennium, show state funding for K-12 up 3.1% over the previous biennium. Their October 2007 K-12 education report further cites the percentage would have been higher were it not for K-12 accounting shift buy backs in FY 2006-2007 accounting for a total of $1.1 billion between November 2004 and February 2006. The buybacks are a direct result of inflated spending in those years. However, despite the buy backs, additional statistics from the findings reported that, “From 1991 to 2009, district general fund revenue per student (as measured by average daily membership or ADM ) is expected to grow from $4,767 to $9,651 - an increase of 102.4% (28.2% after accounting for inflation).”
Back in August of 2007, the Northside Initiative’s Director Ben Perry, said of the school closing initiative, “In June of 2008, the results will be seen. This will succeed.” The Board of Education’s chairperson Pam Costain, echoed Perry’s optimism by declaring, “I have great confidence that this plan will work. It will work because we have strong leadership in the schools.”
The only “results” the citizens of North Minneapolis are seeing from this “strong leadership in the schools” comes down as a request for $60 million in addition funds. That sounds, to me, like more of a plea than it does leadership.
I have a different idea about strong leadership. Strong leadership means accountability for results and responsibility for actions. Voters have shouldered the burden of good intentions long enough. What the voters deserve are results and I’m committed to holding the district’s leadership accountable when their intended results go unmet.