President Dooher urges voters to strongly consider school ‘survival’ levies on Nov. 8
For more information, contact:
ST. PAUL, Minn., Nov. 4, 2011 – Education Minnesota President Tom Dooher called on Minnesota voters to carefully consider what’s at stake next Tuesday, Nov. 8, when they cast their votes on numerous school operating levies.
"I'm here to tell voters in the districts with levy elections next Tuesday: Look closely at the facts pertaining to your local schools," Dooher said. "Find out exactly what a yes vote or a no vote means for the students in your community. And if a yes vote would improve their education and a no vote would hurt it, then I urge you to vote yes."
Voters in 115 Minnesota school districts will decide whether to extend property taxes to help fund their local schools – the largest number of levy requests in a decade. More than 90 percent of Minnesota school districts have a local levy in place to fund some of their operations. The number of levies on the ballot, coupled with the fact that many of them will only fund basic services for schools, speaks to a larger school funding problem, Dooher said.
"The fact that levies are almost universal is a sad statement about school funding in Minnesota," Dooher said. "These used to be called 'excess' levies, because they were intended for special purposes over and above the basics. A better name for them now would be 'survival’ levies."
According to the Minnesota Department of Education, school funding has not kept up with inflation.
- By 2013, the state aid provided for each student will be 13 percent less than it was in 2003, using inflation-adjusted dollars.
- Minnesota has fallen to 22nd in the nation and is below the national average when it comes to per pupil spending on education.
Dooher also addressed the claims of some levy critics who claim the Legislature provided significant increases to schools last session. Dooher pointed out that most of the money allotted to schools comes from automatic increases built into the school funding system to help cover such things as increased enrollment, the rising number of students in poverty and increases in special education costs. Much of the "new" money for schools will pay districts' borrowing costs due to the state's accounting shift, plus a program that rewards schools based on student reading scores.
"The point is – little of this money is available to maintain general school programs in most districts," Dooher said. "You can spin the numbers all you want, but the bottom line is this: Our schools are hurting. This is not just numbers on a spreadsheet; this is for real. And that means our students are hurting."
The long-term solution, Dooher said, is to end local reliance on property tax levies to fund the schools, and instead utilize an equitable, sustainable, predictable and sufficient statewide system of funding.
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. Follow us on Twitter.
November 04, 2011