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By Phil Krinkie
It has only been eight short weeks since state lawmakers left the Capitol at the end of the 2007 regular session. During the budget debate there was the usual back forth regarding K-12 education funding. When the debate ended and the final budget was approved there was an additional $794 million appropriated for schools bringing the 2008-2009 K-12 funding total to $13.7 for the biennium: an increase from the last biennial total of more than 8%.
BUT IT WASN’T ENOUGH!
In a recent Star Tribune interview, the new president of the 70,000 member state teachers’ union, Tom Dooher, when asked if the 2007 legislative appropriation was enough he stated, “it really wasn’t.” The real question that one has to ask is, “Is it ever enough?” The simple answer, I’m afraid, is “NO.”
Since 1996 K-12 education funding has increased 172% with combined state and local revenues now exceeding $7 billion per year. Over the same time period student enrollment has shown little increase. The result of which is that education spending has jumped from $5,189 per student in 1996 to $8,768 per student in 2008; and that’s not even including federal dollars! So even though K-12 spending has increased by over $3 billion since 1996, local school districts still claim it isn’t enough.
Recently, the Brooklyn Center school district claimed that it will be facing $350,000 in budget cuts for next year and will ask voters to raise property taxes despite four consecutive losses at the polls for increased referendum funding. But Brooklyn Center isn’t alone. Numerous other school districts are going to the voters to raise property taxes this fall as well.
Another example is the White Bear Lake school district which will be asking voters to approve a 75% increase in per pupil funding. If voters don’t ok the $12.5 million a year levy, the school district said it may close up to five schools and make large-scale layoffs.
The list of Twin Cities school districts that will likely be asking voters to increase property taxes this fall include Stillwater, Edina, Anoka-Hennepin, Bloomington, Robbinsdale, Burnsville, Osseo and Minnetonka. Some experts estimate that up to one-third of Twin Cities school districts will hold levy referendums this fall. And despite the fact that voters rejected over 60% of the ballot questions in 2006, most school districts appear unabashed and are forging ahead to ask voters to raise their property taxes in order to feed the beast. But even if school district levy requests reach past approval levels of 60% or 70%, will it be enough? I think not.
Regardless of what happens with school district levies this fall, I’m sure when the legislature reconvenes in February 2008 there will be a loud cry for additional education funding.
But what is the likely outcome of the 2008 session? The same actors on the same stage will act out yet another education funding melodrama next spring, with the cries that more money is needed for the same broken K-12 system.
Let’s face it Minnesota taxpayers are being fleeced. They are paying billions of dollars, more and more each year, for basically the same education service they received 20 years ago. This is not to say that teachers and administrators are doing a bad job – but rather they are doing the same job. The successful economic model of the 21st century is based on innovation and competition, and our public school system today has neither. That doesn’t mean our education system isn’t changing, it just isn’t changing to meet the demands of today’s information age.
If we want a 21st century education system, we need real change: that means no more automatic pay increase for teachers; no more “prep time” for the same old lesson plan; no tenure for K-12 teachers – but rather a system that is based on rewarding results. In the end, the Legislature is unlikely to make any of these changes and will merely add additional dollars to the existing K-12 funding formula, and the cycle of “it is not enough” will start all over again.
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