Public schools need stable, equitable funding

I think that if we saw school districts trimming down administrations rather than teachers, we would be more comfortable with the unbelievable amounts of money that are poured into school costs, while contantly asking for more, more, more.

38 Billion just doesn't go around like it used to does it......Give me a break.

It's intellectually dishonest to write an article advocating more education spending without mentioning the current amount of taxpayer money that's spent per pupil (about $11,000) or the percentage of the overall state and local budgets that are currently being spent on K-12 education. For the $300-350,000 per classroom the schools are currently getting for Minnesota's K-12 students, I guarantee you that I could not only teach them the three Rs, but I could teach them to sing and dance too.

The principal at my child's elementary school and its teachers just got a increase in salary.

Principal $138,000 per year
Average teacher $83,000
Behavioral "Specialist" $75,000

Wow, these underpaid public school employees need more money! Wonder what they'd make if the test scores reflected their salaries? A lot less I assure you that.

Stop funding the schools and make them accountable

Although education for our youth is paramount, believing that the billions that we currently pour into K-12 is well spent is a pipe dream.
There is never enough money for this education system, and rememeber what they keep telling us: it's for the 'kids'
IMO, they could double the taxes for education, and in a couple of years, they will be trying to pass referendum's for more money.
ACCOUNTABILITY. These billions need to be accounted for.

Every one of us who has read this propaganda that was put forth as a news article should e-mail Mr. Dooher and ask three friends to do the same. Make it like a chain letter. You tell three friends, they tell three friends and so on and so on.
When I was in public school we had approximately 35 or so kids in each of my elementary grades and we were able to learn how to read, write and speak English quite well.
We were also subject to discipline while in the classroom and while at school. We had recesses where we went outdoors, even in the winter, to shed excess energy.
We were required to be able to read at or above grade level, required to attain a certain level of proficiency at math, and be able to write correct sentences and have legible penmanship or we did not advance to the next grade.
The kids in school today keep getting passed from grade to grade because, "we can't hurt their feelings by keeping them back", it is politically incorrect to not do so.
I suggest, once again, that we flood his e-mail with our comments and let Education Minnesota know where Minnesotans stand on this issue.

I just ran some numbers from the state budget for Fiscal Years 2006 & 2007.
Total state revenue:
$33,734,477,000 = 33.7 Billion
Expenditures:
K-12 Education = 13.35 Billion = 39.6%
Health/Human Serv = 8.22 Billion =24.4%
Higher Educ.= 2.8 Billion = 8.3%
Prop. Tax Aid = 3.0 Billion = 8.9%
Minnesota population estimate for July 2006 was 5,167,101.
Of that total 1,255,606 were over age 5 and under age 18. Assuming every one of them were in school the average amount of money spent for students in K-12 was $10,631.
I believe that should be enough.

Shoot wrote:

I think that if we saw school districts trimming down administrations rather than teachers, we would be more comfortable with the unbelievable amounts of money that are poured into school costs, while constantly asking for more, more, more.

Well Said.

Give me a $10,000 education tax voucher a year for my child and keep the change. My sister works in school administration and the stories I hear drive me insane. She has only been at this job a short time and now says she will never vote for another school levy.

The public school populations in the twin cities are actually declining. This is due to native population decreases, more kids going to private schools, and more kids being home schooled.

Yet, every year the educrats want the school budgets to increase.

I heard yesterday that there is a fight to ban home schooling. New laws would require home educators have a teaching degree. The analogy that went with it stated that Bill Gates would not be allowed to teach his kids about computers!

Wow, must be folks that work for a living posting today. Nice to see common sense comments.

I am sure there will be the ones soon about not enough computers, Johnny and Sally have to share text books because there are not enough for everyone. Not enough seats to sit it. That was my favorite one I heard. Also not enough sports arenas with artificial turf and stadium lighting. We all know the kids will be future sports stars and need all of this hoopla to compete in today's world.

The public schools are saying $10,000 per student isn't enough. Cut more teachers and programs. Our daughter is going to a private school, a better education with far smaller class sizes, for $4,000. Is it possible there is too much waste in the public education system?

Where in the world did you get your numbers? I work for a local school district in the north metro and the top pay is $68,961. That is after 20 years of experience and 45 extra education credits. Either your school is incredibly rich (impossible if it is public) or you don't know what you are talking about.

Actually, the reason why they are passed on is due mostly to class sizes. If a student passes, he/she then goes to the next class. If he fails he must repeat the class, thus making the class sizes larger. Larger class sizes = less individual instruction, more classroom management issues, less time for teacher feedback on graded work, and overworked teachers.

If you are so concerned with funding then you could start by weeding the illegal aliens and their kids out. That right there would bring huge savings. Then do a complete audit of education spending and find the waste we all know is there.
Now that I have established how grounded in reality I am I must now go feed my Unicorn.

"stable equitable funding"......

Why?

85% of all school funds pay wages. Period.

Thats not a problem if it is a Business. In the Business world about 85% of income goes to pay wages.
The 500 lb Gorilla in the room is the fact that because of Unions and Lobbysts and the "corrupt control" they have over all Minnesota Politicians, the Government Education Industry does not need to produce an acceptable product to collect their 85% of the funds.

And make no mistake, your product is Educated Children. A preachers product is Souls led to God. An authors product is Words on paper. An Auto Manufacturers product is Cars.

If you do not produce, there is no "personal" consequence for you....Thus 40%+ failure rate in Educated Children...and an unacceptably high re-work rate (remediation before College).

What would you employees in the Government Education Industry do if the car you spend $10,000 a year to drive failed 40% of the time?

I know, and you know, what you would do...LAWSUIT!

And you should!

You are being ripped off. In fact any car manufacturer that produces 40% failure rate needs to be put out of business, and replaced with a producer who can supply a quality product.

As a consumer, I do not care if the problem is the "Raw Material" that the Manufacurer is forced to work with. The manufacturer knew what "Raw Material" he had before he went into manufacturing.
His excuses fall on deaf ears. You Employees of the Government Education Industries deserve the "Quality" you are paying for!

Where does "Stable" funding come from.......satisfied customers!

What is "Equitable"?.......R ead my posting and you tell me!

Is the Product that the citizens are held hostage to pay for afair value for the wealth spent....Is it "equitable"?

Is 40%+ Failure Rate acceptable.....Hummmmmm

coachleroy wrote:

Where in the world did you get your numbers? I work for a local school district in the north metro and the top pay is $68,961. That is after 20 years of experience and 45 extra education credits. Either your school is incredibly rich (impossible if it is public) or you don't know what you are talking about.

The school has to also pay benefits, social security, retirement, medical, etc... which adds to the top of the salary the workers see.

You're comparing children and cars? I'm sorry, but the last time I checked, cars come from a factory. Kids, they are a bit more complicated. They don't all come from the same factory. They come from very diverse homes. Some have two stable parents while others are living with aunts, uncles, grandparents, group homes, single parents, etc. A compressor for an AC unit on a car stops working you replace it. We can't replace the home life of these kids. They don't have "interchangeable parts". Each one is unique. How can you possibly teach to that uniqueness with 35 kids in a classroom? So blame the system if you like,(it does have plenty of problems) but it goes much deeper than the system.

Excellent point. However, I was responding to the person who said the average teacher salary is above $80,000. SALARY, not benefits.