Passing the buck onto schools is unacceptable

Published Wednesday, April 25, 2007

At a time when the Fergus Falls School District is dealing with enrollment decreases and the Legislature has a budget surplus, the idea that state funding cuts in special education are playing a significant role in forcing the district to cut 22 teaching positions is unacceptable.

No one argues that hiring specialized staff to teach students with physical, mental and emotional disabilities is important. However, hiring such staff — which is far more costly per student — requires funding. With a $1 million shortfall in state funding for special education — funding the Legislature had previously committed to — the district must pay for it by using general funds.

In essence, the state Legislature is passing the buck on special education, and in doing so, forcing the school board to either lay off valuable teachers — which it has chosen to do — or ask residents to pay for those teachers by raising property taxes, which seems like political suicide in the wake of the upcoming referendum.

No one enjoys raising taxes or cutting spending. But while the third alternative — passing the spending onto local governments — is the easiest politically, it’s also clearly the least fair to outstate residents.