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Lawmakers must fund education
Published 06:00 a.m., November 10, 2007
Two-thirds of the Minnesota school districts seeking levy referundums received the support of their communities in Tuesday’s general election.
While the fact that the school districts will be receiving new money for their classrooms soon, it can’t be overshadowed by the fact that one-third of the referendum requests — or 32 districts— were shot down by voters. One of those schools was right here in Otter Tail County in the Parkers Prairie School District.
State Leaders must boost their financial commitment to our state education system. It’s a move necessary to preserve the schools in many of our rural communities.
In Parkers Prairie a successful referendum would have increased the district’s general education revenue by $447.85 per pupil — or $240,000. That money would have been used to offset a decrease in state aid brought on by declining enrollment Based on the district’s current enrollment, school district officials are estimating a loss of 74 students in the next five years. That most likely will result in a cut in teachers and programs.
The news isn’t much better in Fergus Falls, where Superintendent Jerry Ness announced Wednesday that the school district is in statuatory operating debt. Fergus Falls has made $2.3 million in budget cuts the past two years as enrollment declined more than 100 students. The 2007-08 enrollment was down more than 50 students over last year.
Property taxpayers are at their limit and have been gracious in funding education.
Now is the time for our lawmakers to properly fund our schools.
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What is the source of the funding Lawmakers will apply to education? The source of all funds is us, like it or not. We all pay for all schools, especially when funding is bumped up the ladder a rung of two.
The fact remains that rural schools are facing declining enrollment and from all signs are going to continue to face a decline. For any munber of reasons, the student count is very likely to continue to fall here. Count the number of obituaries in the Journal for a certain period of time and compare it to the birth notices for the same period to see one contributer to decline.
It's a kneejerk reaction to declare "there's not enough money for schools, we need funds from somewhere". Could it not be a better answer to do better with what we have and do like any other entity would do in lean times............buckle up and watch our nickles and focus on the mission?
Our district has a great opportunity to adjust to the future now. If the facilities project is done with some foresight, which we all were assured it would be, we may hope that one day it will cost us less to provide quality education to a smaller group of students rather than more because there are fewer students.
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