The Parable of the Frog

Apparently the frog, sitting in a cooling water bath, didn’t notice the gradual rise in water temparature until it was too late. I was thinking about that yesterday as I stood as I often do as part of the Bridge Square peace vigil. I was hoping that Governor Pawlenty comes back from Iraq fired up enough about that situation as to have a new idea or two. I was hoping that on the plane coming back John McCain and our Governor would have an epiphany.

McCain: “You know what, Tim, the war over there is not going well.”

Pawlenty: “Well, Duh. All that money and what do we have but one big mess. Will we ever get out of there?”

McCain: “Tell you what. Let’s call a spade a spade. $300 billion and counting. Let’s run for office as a team, renounce the war, and go to war instead to close the achievement gap and prepare every single kid for post-secondary work or college. What do you suppose $300 billion would buy?”

Pawlenty: “Well, for starters, we’d need to provide federal funding for all special education costs, and stop pushing that as an unfunded mandate down to the local school district. Next, we need to sell the real hard facts about what is happening to the public so they share my sense of urgency about our education system.”

McCain: “What are those cold hard facts, Tim?”

Pawlenty:
“1. In 1991 we ranked second in college participation. in 2001 we had dropped to 15th

2. 59% of the world’s docorates back in your generation were awarded in the US. In 2001 it had dropped to 41%.

3. US students currently rank 15th in reading, 19th in science, 24th in math and 24th in problem solving.

4. Minnesota has the biggest “achievement gap” in the nation, and it’s going to get worse because our minority population is increasing.

5. Most Minnesota companies don’t need to stay here. They rely on human capital and will go where the brains are. We could be losing some of our big players in the next decade.

In short, I’m worried.” We slowing boiling to death while we watch Iraq burn.

Budget Cuts Complete, Message to Policymakers

If you have been tracking on the latest round of budget cuts for the Northfield Public Schools, you know that the process is now complete. Tonight (March 13) the final vote was taken on $700,000 in cuts, which is 4% of the total budget for the district. Remember last year at this time a 10% reduction was made.

Now I have 3 messages for policymakers, both in St. Paul and in Washington:

1. We have done our work and met our responsibility. We may not borrow money from future generations to finance our schools. We accept that responsibility just as we as private citizens accept the responsibility to live within our means. Yet policymakers in Washington do not accept that responsibility, borrowing from future generations through the national debt (now in desperate red ink) or by passing on the funding of mandates to the states. And policymakers in St. Paul are fond of passing down to the local schools responsibility for funding madates through local levies.
SO HERE IS WHAT YOU AS LEGISLATORS MUST DO:
* Fully fund special education costs. For example, nearly a million dollars of special education expense in Northfield this year alone has been funded at the local level. We must deliver special education services, and we do that. But you do not adequately fund it. Further, align state and federal law so that the burden of proof when challenging an IEP is on the parent. This would help stablize costs.
* Provide the necessary financial support to implement No Child Left Behind. For example, the required science tests that will be “on line by ‘09,” will show a pathetic level of funding for technology expenditures.
* Ensure taxpayer equity by increasing the equalizing factors on education-related levies. $140 million in new local property tax levies were added through the expansion of current levies, a change in the equalizing factor for total operating capital, and the establishment of new levies. For example, the newly-established Q-Comp equalizing factors must be significantly increased to provide fairness and simplicity.
* Redesign the state education funding formula to create a new funding system that will provide ALL students with the resources necessary to meet high standards and expectations.
* Seek a one-time aid to offset heating and transportation costs, which are fixed and defy prediction right now.

2. Understand that the “70% Solution” (Governor Pawlenty has asked for legislation that would insure 70% of education dollars are spent in the classroom) is just a sound bite, perpetuating the notion that local boards somehow can’t figure out what amounts are adquate for what programs. Discussions about this at the Capitol are a waste of time.
SO HERE IS WHAT YOU AS LEGISLATORS MUST DO:
* Don’t even talk about this issue. Talk about important issues.

3. Understand that some of the “choice” options you have created in St. Paul have contributed to the cutbacks to a comprehensive education for all kids. My patience as a board member is exhausted by your constant increasing of “parental choice.” You need to get back to our republic’s roots: a free and equal public education is the backbone of the democracy. For example, what you have created through charter school legislation has pushed us close to resegregation of our public schools. Charter school legislation has produced resegregation by race and resegregation by income level. I believe the next wave of lawsuits in education will come from students who will claim institutional discrimination BECAUSE you provided such choices. I believe we face an era that will make “Brown v Board of Education” necessary all over again.
SO HERE IS WHAT YOU AS LEGISLATORS MUST DO:
* Make personal visits to your charter schools. In doing so, you will find some of the best schools in the country, but you will also find some of the worst and least safe schools in the country, many with populations that are exclusively from one racial or economic group.
* Remove funding for Post Secondary Education Options (PSEO) from the back of the public school and fund it from the State.
* Rethink “options.” Think about equality.