Editorial: The urgency of school reform in Minnesota

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jw in the grove wrote:

translation THERE is nothing to do in seattle and SOMEONE is too dumb to realize that there is no funding cuts in MINNESOTA.

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LMAOROTF wrote:

<quoted text>
Translation=I'm jw and facts BOTHER my head and I bother like a stalker.
State budget problems keep squeezing Minn. schools
by Chris Williams, Associated Press
August 6, 2011
Eagan, Minn.— Each summer as she sets up her classroom for the fall, elementary school teacher Kate Schmidt said it seems like she spends more of her own money for school supplies, her classes get larger and she has fewer colleagues.
"I remember people telling me that if you get through your first year of teaching, you're good to go," said the 22-year teaching veteran. "Well, I work much harder now than I ever did as a first-year teacher."
Schmidt, 43, teaches fourth-grade in the Rosemount-Apple Valley-Eagan district in the Twin Cities suburbs which, like most districts, is coping with state funding that has failed to keep up with inflation for nearly a decade. Then in July the Legislature and Gov. Mark Dayton held back another $700 million to solve the latest budget deficit.

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woodtick57 wrote:

How many years in the past decade, or even the last two decades, has Mn not increased funding for education...per pupil, above inflation? anyone know these stats?

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jw in the grove wrote:

<quoted text>not since the 60s according to the states website.

woodtick57 wrote:

<quoted text>So is the problem not enought money, or something fundamentally wrong with our school system?
Teacher unions would be one of my initial places of inspection...

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woodtick57 wrote:

<quoted text>So is the problem not enought money, or something fundamentally wrong with our school system?
Teacher unions would be one of my initial places of inspection...

jw in the grove wrote:

<quoted text>IMO I believe it is a combination of all of the above, Teachers are hard to fire so mediocre ones or bad teachers are kept, PAY is based on years of being a bad teacher versus maybe a review of their accomplishments, parents are not as involved due to single parent households and or both parents working. The union will not allow any compitition for money as they represent the teacher making the most money possible not the children is their objective.

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woodtick57 wrote:

<quoted text>i would take exception to your assumption that single parents are not involved in their kids education.
why would you think that?

jw in the grove wrote:

<quoted text>Would and didnt say all single parents are, but as a whole it is much harder to work, take care of the home, and kids, ONE thing that most of the kids in ALC learning have in common is single parent households by a much larger percentage.