Huge cuts in state funding to schools!! (Andover, Elk River: school districts, closing)

[jojajn]

The schools in southeastern MN were on Pawlenty's chopping block. He cut their funding so severely, they don't know how they will make payroll! In one district, they are considering closing the elementary school and putting all the students together in the high school building!

Even our state highways have been crumbling for the past few years.

Pawlenty ran our state into the ground!!

"The governor has added to that with an additional deferred payment to schools,” Wilke said, “taking that from a 10 percent delayed payment to 27 percent. … So (it’s) a 17 percent increase in the delayed payments to school districts, which means that we have to go out and borrow additional money.”

“It increased our costs to borrow that money,” Wilke added. “The biggest concern with what the governor’s done is, is that legal? And is there a guarantee of that being paid back? If we never see that money, we would ultimately have to cut that from our budget. That would have a devastating impact on our district."

Houston County News - News

[knke0204]

Originally Posted by jojajn

The schools in southeastern MN were on Pawlenty's chopping block. He cut their funding so severely, they don't know how they will make payroll! In one district, they are considering closing the elementary school and putting all the students together in the high school building!

Even our state highways have been crumbling for the past few years.

Pawlenty ran our state into the ground!!



Houston County News - News

Good, schools operate much too inefficiently anyways. I mean my high school had a diversity counsilor who's job task was to help integrate students into a 'very high majority of white students'... cool, so you're paying a counselor $45,000 a year to counsel the 3% of students that don't need you anyway...Great allocation of funds... Or how about athletics that charge $200.00 a season to play, but have games 45-60 mins away to stay "competative" Or how about the $50,000 a tenred teacher makes, but is so sick of their job they don't actually 'teach' you anything, or 'educated' you.

Or how about the hundreds of thousdands of dollars they wasted on a unique 'brick pattern" that reflects the area of central minnesota- OK, high school kids don't care.

Whatever happened to making the buildings basic, and emphasizing on EDUCATORS, EQUIPMENT and SUPPLIES! A swirly special paint job on the hallway floor is a slap in the face to all tax payers.

[Cruz Azul Guy]

Originally Posted by knke0204

Good, schools operate much too inefficiently anyways. I mean my high school had a diversity counsilor who's job task was to help integrate students into a 'very high majority of white students'... cool, so you're paying a counselor $45,000 a year to counsel the 3% of students that don't need you anyway...Great allocation of funds... Or how about athletics that charge $200.00 a season to play, but have games 45-60 mins away to stay "competative" Or how about the $50,000 a tenred teacher makes, but is so sick of their job they don't actually 'teach' you anything, or 'educated' you.

Or how about the hundreds of thousdands of dollars they wasted on a unique 'brick pattern" that reflects the area of central minnesota- OK, high school kids don't care.

Whatever happened to making the buildings basic, and emphasizing on EDUCATORS, EQUIPMENT and SUPPLIES! A swirly special paint job on the hallway floor is a slap in the face to all tax payers.

You bring up some good points and I'm in complete agreement that schools, much like any organization, need to make sure they are properly allocating their funds to ensure operational efficiency. However, without having any specific knowledge of the finances of above mentioned schools it is impossible to say whether their difficulties are due to foolish spending or because they really are underfunded. It is possible that they flat out don't have enough money to operate. If the state is screwing them over, which is a definite possibility, they may need to take other measures in order to remain in operation, such as ending programs, closing schools, cutting staff, or raising money such as with referendums.

[golfgal]

Originally Posted by knke0204

Good, schools operate much too inefficiently anyways. I mean my high school had a diversity counsilor who's job task was to help integrate students into a 'very high majority of white students'... cool, so you're paying a counselor $45,000 a year to counsel the 3% of students that don't need you anyway...Great allocation of funds... Or how about athletics that charge $200.00 a season to play, but have games 45-60 mins away to stay "competative" Or how about the $50,000 a tenred teacher makes, but is so sick of their job they don't actually 'teach' you anything, or 'educated' you.

Or how about the hundreds of thousdands of dollars they wasted on a unique 'brick pattern" that reflects the area of central minnesota- OK, high school kids don't care.

Whatever happened to making the buildings basic, and emphasizing on EDUCATORS, EQUIPMENT and SUPPLIES! A swirly special paint job on the hallway floor is a slap in the face to all tax payers.

Knowing where you went to school, none of the little towns around you are going to play the larger high schools on a regular basis. That it what happens when you are the biggest town around.

Most schools do NOT operated inefficiently. Most schools operate on a very, very lean budget. The diversity officer at your school is most likely a mandated position. Not that it doesn't happen on occasion but even a tenured teacher that isn't teaching anything CAN and WILL be fired. Tenure does not mean they are free from being dismissed. I also seriously doubt that the brick pattern cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. I challenge you to go to the school, get a copy of the budget and find areas where they can really cut 34% of their budget.

[uptown_urbanist]

When it comes to funding for special projects (like potentially any kind of fancy brickwork or painting?) sometimes the money also comes from outside interests. I write a lot of grant applications, and can attest that there are a lot of organizations (and a lot of individuals) who have strong interests in very specific things. I wouldn't jump to the conclusion that any special project is being funded out of a pot of money that can be touched for other uses. Maybe some donor came along, for example, and decided that a really nice brick walkway (or whatever) would be make a school a nicer place for students and staff and enhance its status as a community gathering place, create community pride, or be a form of public art, as just some potential examples. Sure, maybe the school would rather have that money to be used to pay for light bulbs and toilet paper (ah, the unglamorous essentials) or additional staff time, but that might not be an option, and they'd rather have a really nice sidewalk rather nothing. In any case, on any project that looks like a potential bad use of funds I'd definitely confirm to see where exactly that money is coming from. Or, in the cases where something has to be built anyway, why not put in a little effort to make it extra nice? That doesn't necessarily cost more.

[golfgal]

Originally Posted by uptown_urbanist

When it comes to funding for special projects (like potentially any kind of fancy brickwork or painting?) sometimes the money also comes from outside interests. I write a lot of grant applications, and can attest that there are a lot of organizations (and a lot of individuals) who have strong interests in very specific things. I wouldn't jump to the conclusion that any special project is being funded out of a pot of money that can be touched for other uses. Maybe some donor came along, for example, and decided that a really nice brick walkway (or whatever) would be make a school a nicer place for students and staff and enhance its status as a community gathering place, create community pride, or be a form of public art, as just some potential examples. Sure, maybe the school would rather have that money to be used to pay for light bulbs and toilet paper (ah, the unglamorous essentials) or additional staff time, but that might not be an option, and they'd rather have a really nice sidewalk rather nothing. In any case, on any project that looks like a potential bad use of funds I'd definitely confirm to see where exactly that money is coming from. Or, in the cases where something has to be built anyway, why not put in a little effort to make it extra nice? That doesn't necessarily cost more.

On top of which the capital expenditures in a school district budget are completely separate from the operating budget of the district and can not be co-mingled so having the brickwork has no bearing on whether they have to cut teachers or not. It is possible they had an excess in the capital expenditure budget and chose to spend it that way otherwise they would lose future monies from the state.

[knke0204]

Originally Posted by golfgal

Knowing where you went to school, none of the little towns around you are going to play the larger high schools on a regular basis. That it what happens when you are the biggest town around.

Most schools do NOT operated inefficiently. Most schools operate on a very, very lean budget. The diversity officer at your school is most likely a mandated position. Not that it doesn't happen on occasion but even a tenured teacher that isn't teaching anything CAN and WILL be fired. Tenure does not mean they are free from being dismissed. I also seriously doubt that the brick pattern cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. I challenge you to go to the school, get a copy of the budget and find areas where they can really cut 34% of their budget.

Right, because going to STMA and playing towns like Dassel-Cokato, Glenco-Silver Lake, Watertown-Mayer, Delano, Waconia, and Annandale was soo efficent. I mean, what would have we done if we had to play Rogers, Buffalo, Big Lake, Monticello, Elk River, Andover, Zimmerman?

Needless to say they finally have changed, but even in high school it was ludacris to drive 60+ to play sports.

I would love to get ahold of a school budget. I laugh when people say teachers get paid too little. I used to think that they got paid too much...

We used to get 1hr for lunch! So I get my food and eat and then stand around making fun of people and flirting with girls for the other 45 minutes... Just a lot of wasted time.

Mandated or not, the position is still BS and a giant waste of money.