The budget decisions are behind us for this year. I am so grateful to the community for stepping up to the plate and understanding that these cuts were made because we HAD to be fiscally responsible. I have been asked by a number of people for the comments I made at the school board session during which we finalized the spending for the next fiscal year, so I am including them in this email.
We are gathered here tonight to do the responsible thing, which is to live within our budgets. I regret that this seems too hard and too fast to some of you.
What we would all like to do is have everything the way it was last year, only a little bit better. We would like to have smaller class sizes. We would like to have the Companeros program in one building to maximize the effectiveness of that program. We would like to present more extracurricular activities for students. We would like to upgrade our technology applications.
Instead we find ourselves increasing class sizes. We are placing the Companeros program into two buildings. We are decreasing extracurricular opportunities for some students. We are asking parents to adjust to a new start time in one building in order to gain efficiencies in transportation through a modified tier system.
We do these things because we must live within our means. It is no different than for a family that must adjust spending when the amount of income goes down. We must live responsibly.
But responsibility also lies in challenging our lawmakers to do the responsible thing for education. They must fund education responsibly. I was so grateful that four people at the public hearing came forward to remind us all that the big picture of school funding must be addressed. We must insist that our legislators represent the bread and butter issues like education funding, and not get bogged down in social issues. I ask you all to become involved in addressing that big picture.
As of today, the Minnesota Legislature is considering two proposals: House and Senate. The Senate version is the preferred, because it has a bit more money attached. Will the joint conference committee go with the Senate figures, or those in the House version?
