President Dooher urges voters to strongly consider 'school survival levies' on Nov. 2
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ST. PAUL, Minn., Oct. 28, 2010: Education Minnesota President Tom Dooher called on Minnesota voters to carefully consider what’s at stake next Tuesday, Nov. 2, when they cast their votes on numerous school operating levies.
"Originally we called these levies 'excess operating levies' but that doesn’t fit any more," Dooher said. "We should be calling them 'school survival levies' because the tool once designed to pay for school extras has become a necessity to pay for basic school operations."
Voters in 78 Minnesota school districts will decide whether to extend property taxes to help fund their local schools. Dooher cited several examples where schools would either close, eliminate programs or increase class sizes if the levies fail. "There is a crisis in our schools and these 78 district operating levies are proof," Dooher said.
Dooher noted that 90 percent of Minnesota schools now rely on operating levies to make up for funding shortfalls left by reduced state spending on education. Adjusted for inflation, Minnesota now spends 14 percent less per pupil than eight years ago. The state now ranks 20th in the nation and is below the national average when it comes to per pupil spending on education.
"Minnesota’s system of funding education is broken," Dooher said. "This increasing reliance on the property tax to fund schools creates an imbalance between districts that can afford to pay and those that can’t. The quality of our students’ education should not depend on whether they live in Blackduck or Bloomington. The long-term solution to sustaining a strong and equitable education system lies in eliminating this Band-Aid approach to funding schools."
Dooher called on the next governor and lawmakers to end local reliance on property tax levies to fund the schools, and replace it with an equitable, sustainable, predictable and sufficient statewide system of funding.
"Everyone claims education is the key to Minnesota’s future and we agree," Dooher said. "So let’s start asking the schools what they need to succeed and stop telling the schools what they need to live without."
About Education Minnesota
Education Minnesota represents 70,000 professionals working together for excellence in education for all students. Education Minnesota’s members include teachers and educational support professionals in Minnesota’s public school districts, faculty members at Minnesota’s community and technical colleges and University of Minnesota campuses in Duluth and Crookston, retired educators and student teachers. Education Minnesota is affiliated with the American Federation of Teachers, National Education Association and AFL-CIO.
October 28, 2010