Letter to the editor: Asking too much with school levy

Greg M.
03/14/2010 7:57 PM

...and while you muse philosophically, our school district is still in the red and our children are the recipients of this dismal situation. Greg

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Mark B.
Two Harbors, MN     03/10/2010 11:47 PM

My great grandfather on my father’s side was a founding contributor of St. Olaf College. My grandfather on my mother’s side was a teacher. My daughter became a teacher because she wanted to make a difference in our society’s future. After graduation from college, she joined AmeriCorps’ “Teach for America” Program, and headed off to a challenged school in a heavily Hispanic District in Denver. There, she spent two years learning the difference between practicing the profession of teaching and committing to a career of changing lives. This summer, she heads for Washington, DC, in hopes of making an even bigger difference working with reformer Michelle Rhee, Chancellor of Education for the DC school system. She also has an open option for employment in the education arena with the Obama administration. She has a picture of John F. Kennedy hanging on her wall, along with one of his quotes: “The great enemy of the truth is very often not the lie -- deliberate, contrived and dishonest -- but the myth -- persistent, persuasive and unrealistic.” I believe she will make a difference, as I hope will I.

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Brien G.
Two Harbors, MN     03/10/2010 4:45 PM

Well Rueben, a couple of things: I think Mark has some good ideas, well worth looking into. On the other hand, just because the district doesn't make the choices that Mark advocates, it doesn't mean that the district is irresponsible. The school board is made up of citizens willing to make the hard choices and pot shots that uninvolved people tend to throw at them. I have yet to meet one person in my 23 year public education career that didn't have a great determination to do right by kids and families. I do take offense and get worked up when people ignorantly denegrate this noble profession. It seems he thinks he has it all figured out and the rest of us just need to see the light and vote no. I think some people could read his last few paragraphs as saying that our kids really aren't worth the investment. I hope that's not what he's saying, kinda sounds like it though. Things in my opinion are not bleak, challenging, yes. But from struggle comes clarity and greatness. So anyway, I'm done with this - nothing I can add will make a difference in this thread and Mark is never going to get me to sign on to his worldview. I'm heading to the cemetery to stop my grandfather's spinning coffin (42 years of honorable teaching in the Mpls Public Schools making sure kids have everything they need to become productive citizens, ready to take over for this generation of retirees).

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Rueben H.
03/10/2010 2:37 PM

Thanks, nunofurbusiness n., for what appears to be some very clear insight to help move this discussion positively along. I'd like your "factual" position on all of this, to help me understand the direction you are coming from. I think Mark B. has provided plenty of facts to start some thought about where he is coming from. Brien, did you ask for additional information from Mark B., and what are your thoughts on that information? You seem to be pretty well informed about what is happening at the schools, and I am interested in what you might have to say.

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nunofurbusiness n.
03/10/2010 11:01 AM

"...the vast majority of folks don't have money to give them." What part of this sentence is supported by facts? None. Are there financial hardship cases that should be granted exception to the increases? Probably, but we don't stop building roads and bombers because some small fraction of the population can't afford or chooses not support these investments. Seems to me that this is "vast majority" is a vocal minority on an issue they don't favor.

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Mark B.
Two Harbors, MN     03/10/2010 10:45 AM

Jim...I agree with you.The school district claims it doesn't have money, and its clear to me the vast majority of folks don't have money to give them. That has been the whole point of this discussion. Until the district can convince me, with facts, they have no other options, I have no intention of supporting their four-day week proposal or any of the referendum questions. Is that clear enough?

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Jim H.
Two Harbors, MN     03/10/2010 10:24 AM

You guys make me laugh because you still don't get what my question was, just where do you and the school board expect people on fixed incomes to come up with the money for these extra "tax's" ? None of you have even come close to answering that question. Get back to the real problem of people on fixed incomes are getting hurt due to the added "levy" the school board wants passed. What you did in the past is not going to help me or anyone eles pay for more taxes. Now why don't you all go back and read my letter to the editor and then come up with a good answer.

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Mark B.
Two Harbors, MN     03/10/2010 12:40 AM

Brien, as Mike said we don't have to get personal. Sticking to the facts sometimes requires me to get a bit wordy. I try to work at avoiding that, but let me provide you with just a bit of the information I have at hand. The first big issue seems to be the four-day week, and saving $200,000-$250,000 to keep a five-day week. If the Student Activities/Athletics school paid portion of the budget as reported in the 2008 (the newer data was not on-line as of yet) financial data to MDE, were reduced by $66/student to the state average of $246/student, the savings at the 2009 student level of 1,416 students would be $93,456 annually. One day of 9 hours/day of day care at $10/hour is $90. One family paying for one student's day care for 30 of the roughly 36 weeks of school time would save $2,700 by simply paying the extra $66, on average, for their kid's activity fee. Fund raisers and volunteering could help even more. Next, school level administration in 2008 cost $100/student more than the state average. That is $141,600 to start looking at for some savings, and I don't necessarily mean laying people off types of savings. District level administration costs in 2008 were $51/student more than state averages, offering up another $72,216 for examination. Take the people part out and look at the other expenses first. That is a total right there of around $307,272/year above state averages to take a closer look at. Now, as far as teacher costs go, the superintendent mentioned in the meeting I went to, the average beginning teacher with benefits costs the district around $50,000 per year. The whole $250,000 could be saved if only 5 teachers were laid off, not the "over a dozen" you mentioned (so I'm not sure what the district was looking at). That is less than a 4-5% savings (maybe less) to somehow be realized out of the entire teacher compensation budget. Again, I'm not saying teachers have to be laid off, but total salaries and benefit compensation could be looked at for areas to save. Simply increasing medical deductibles and co-pays in health plans might realize significant premium savings for the school. Next, using the school itself as a revenue source for meetings and conferences after hours might be an option, particularly for smaller groups. Charging for the overhead costs when local groups use the school, as are done in many metro schools, and which typically require lights, heat, A/C and a janitor seems eminently fair. My private soccer club in Hopkins paid thousands of dollars per year for use of fields and support services provided by the school district, and they were still a bargain. I am also a believer in unions helping to maintain a fair balance with management in today's world, and do not believe they would take a self-destructive stance when it comes to the realities of today's economics. Taxpayers also have to be kept openly and honestly informed. Just today, a report was issued indicating 43% of American workers have saved less than $10,000 for their retirement. That is an astoundingly inadequate dollar number, along with nearly unbelievable data on the huge credit card balances being carried by college students and working families. These folks cannot continue to pay other's bills when they cannot afford to pay their own. And if you think a "good" education is the answer, it is not. It may have been in the past, but no more. Today, only around 20% of college graduates nationally have jobs lined up when they graduate. The average college graduate's earning power has dropped by nearly 8% over the past few years, and is on a downhill slide. Even the best private colleges cannot place the majority of their students upon graduation any more. An "International" business climate doesn't mean our kids need better education than they are now getting to compete, it just means you can hire a master's degree engineer in India for $17,000 per year. Those engineers are just as smart and hardworking as our kids who may have to spend up to $200,000 to get their master's degrees, and have no job waiting when they get out of school. Someone in the meeting I attended said it wasn't all about money, but equally about an investment in our children and their futures. In the end, the truth is really about the return that investment makes in our kids' adult lives and in the fabric of our society, and in how our investment is paid back by our children. If you stand away and look at the reality of it all today, things are looking pretty bleak. That is why you can never turn your back on prioritizing even the smallest amounts of publicly expended money while respecting the circumstances of those who are expected to pay. If you want links to more data, and charts to look at regarding our school district and its financial history, send me your e-mail address at mark.broin@humagen.com, and I'll provide you with all the data you want.

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Mike C.
Two Harbors, MN     03/09/2010 7:58 PM

How about if y'all craft a nice letter to the editor with your feelings on the issue? It's getting a little bitey and personal here, so can we back down a bit? Thanks, Mike Creger, Editor

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Brien G.
Two Harbors, MN     03/09/2010 4:43 PM

Mark B. - You still haven't specifically said where the district has not managed their budget appropriately or what specific cuts you would propose. It's easy to sit back and throw stones. Earlier you said that my jargon has been used to pass previous levies. The same could be said of yours, in the reverse. You throw out general criticisms with no specifics to back them up. Muddying the water with rhetorical questions, suspicion and innuendo. I would strongly disagree with your characterizations of the vote the staff took in regards to a freeze. The motivation was not to save their jobs. In fact, over a dozen younger, less experienced teachers, making no where near 52,000 + , would have been laid off. So if teachers were only worried only about their salaries they would not have voted for the freeze. Talk about disingenuous. They voted a freeze to maintain the programs and opportunities the kids have available. A staff member is a program/class at this point. Art, music, tech ed classes don't teach themselves. May I suggest that you research state funding of schools in the last ten years? I think a quality education is even more important in these current economic times. Do we want to make it even harder for graduates to find work? May I suggest a visit to one of our schools? Sit down and talk with the people who are in front of kids every day, who are passionate about providing a quality education for our kids. To be honest, I do find it a little ironic that you have appointed yourself the spokesman for the "little guy". And to Jim H - Where is all the anger coming from? How about we stick to facts and not what you THINK is going to happen? And just for the record, $154 is a big deal to me as well, I'm not writing this from my "retirement lake home".

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