Freedom Dogs

We recently completed an election cycle that was long, arduous and filled with rancor. This was especially true in area of school funding. Residents of District 281 Robbinsdale were, again, asked to approve an operating levy that has, for the most part, increased property taxes even though homes in the area are showing significant declines in market value. This levy was proposed despite school enrollments that continue to decline and Kindergarten classes that continue to shrink. This became even more clear after the consultants, Wold Architects and Engineers and demographer Hazel Reinhardt told the school board that the district has enough extra classroom space to consider closing up to three schools.

 

Interesting isn’t it that apparently no one noticed all this extra space when the district was busy deciding that the only way to restore classroom sizes was to levy taxpayers. There was some discussion of closing one elementary school but it was determined that laying off teachers and cutting programs was a more effective way to get the taxpayer’s attention and, then, compliance in the voting booth.

 

Even more interesting is the fact that enrollment has been declining consistently for over fourteen years while costs have been increasing at an alarming rate. Funds from state revenue alone have increased from $89.6 million in 1999 to $123.5 million in 2008-09. This really demonstrates that education funding as currently formulated is unsustainable. We simply must re-engineer our school system. Our district graduation rates are below the state average. Our entire economy is in trouble. The state budget is facing a $5 billon shortfall. Taxpayers are being squeezed from all sides. It is time for the school board to make the changes necessary to, at a minimum, live within its budget and ideally make changes that will reduce expenditures in anticipation of reduced state funding.