For years Minnesota has taken great pride in education excellence. However, the economic crisis has begun to erode our reputation as a state that values education. Funding has not kept pace with inflation and in many cases declining enrollment has reduced aid to districts. Creative state budget balancing tactics have led to delayed funding and shifts in aid, forcing districts to borrow money to meet financial obligations. Minnesota will be facing a deficit of $5.7 to $7.5 billion dollars as legislatures develop a balanced budget as required by law. How will our leaders be able to address this issue without further impacting education?
Districts have responded to the aid reductions and funding changes by reducing expenditures in all areas of education from athletics and activities to teachers. Results of these reductions have increased class sizes, left fewer options for students and decreased the quality of education Minnesotans have come to expect. What will be the long-term impact of the financial decisions we are making today?
While the short-term impact on student learning is not good, the community impact is even greater. Worse, the damage may take a generation to be noticed and perhaps longer to turn around. Decreases in our tax base and less money in our economy coupled with increased need for human service programs, crime and poverty will not appear overnight. By the time these issues are evident the impact on our economy will have already taken hold. Cook County has approximately 600 school age students and another 150 preschool children. What educational services are we going to provide them?
The details of school finance are impossible to describe in the limited space of a newspaper column. One option I.S.D. 166 has is to request voters for an operating levy, which would provide revenue for the school district through property taxes. The I.S.D. 166 School Board understands the economic issues and realizes the significance of what we are asking Cook County residents for. The board is asking residents to fund education at a time when everyone is dealing with financial stress. Board members wrestled with the decision but could not determine any other way to cover the basic financial needs of the district. What will the response of the voters be?
On November 2, 2010, I.S.D. 166 will be asking Cook County residents to approve an operating levy in the amount of $650 per pupil unit, resulting in a tax impact of $65 per $100,000 of taxable market value on homestead, commercial, agricultural and apartment properties. The levy would provide the district with an average of $377,000 for each of the next five years. Without this funding the board will need to make more reductions. If the levy fails, the question is not only how are we going to serve our students today, but how will we prepare them to serve our communities in the years to come?
Each month a representative
of our local schools will
offer thoughts in Issues in
Education. This month’s
contributor is Beth Schwarz,
superintendent of School
District 166.
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