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Education MN president urges passage of school levies
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Friday, 30 October 2009
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By T.W. Budig
ECM Capitol reporter
A double-fistful of local school districts have levies riding in next Tuesday’s (Nov. 3) election, and Education Minnesota President Tom Dooher has strong opinions on which oval voters should blacken on the ballot.
 Tom Dooher
“It shouldn’t be the responsibility of the local taxpayers, but for now it is,” said Dooher, arguing for stronger state funding.
Ninety percent of Minnesota school districts rely on operating levies for funding — up from 78 percent six years ago, according to Education Minnesota.
Area school districts with levies on the ballot include Anoka-Hennepin, Big Lake, Cambridge-Isanti, Centennial, Milaca, Mora, North Branch, St. Francis and Spring Lake Park.
“Right now, districts are on pins and needles, worried about the weather next Tuesday,” said Dooher, noting school officials are worried about who shows up and who doesn’t at the polls. “I think everybody has a stake in this,” he added of the fate of the levies.
The first thing people ask when considering living in a community is whether the local schools are good, said Dooher. And seniors and people on fixed incomes should remember that somebody stepped forward for them when they were the ones with children in schools, Dooher explained.
House K-12 Finance Committee member Rep. Bob Dettmer, R-Forest Lake, views the levies as an exercise in local control. If the local people believe the levy is necessary, they can support them, he explained.
Meanwhile, Dettmer is not optimistic lawmakers next session will be able to cobble together much in additional K-12 funding. “Don’t get your hopes up,” he warned.
Lawmakers will likely be looking at budget deficit for some time to come, he explained.
Dettmer spoke of the need to prioritize. One place to look for additional funding could be the human services’ budget, he indicated. Specifically, he suggested looking for possible fraud in the use of human services funding.
K-12 education currently makes up about 37 percent of the state’s general fund spending, with another 9 percent slated to higher education.
Health and human services accounts for about 29 percent of the spending in the $31 billion general fund budget.
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