As a school board member, resident of Minneapolis and mother of 2 school
children, I have some concerns over this proposal. The tax change Ventura
is proposing is a shallow tax and is subject much more to the whims of the
economy. Property taxes tend to be more stable as housing stock is not as
subject to great swings as sales and income tax. If the economy goes on a
larger downturn, and it will (history bears this point out) then I fear
public education will face massive shortfalls.
In Minneapolis, we, as you all know, deal with many huge educational and
social chanllenges not really experieinced by the more affluent areas. We
are very fortunate to have strong community support for our schools. The
extra money we raise helps us to some interventions such as reduced class
size that really benefits students. With the political reality that the
city no longer has the power base it once had at the legislature, the power
base of the outer ring suburbs and affluent districts puts us at the mercy
of policymakers who think Minneapolis and St. Paul are treated too well by
the legislature. I fear that any opporutnity to reduce our ability to ask
for community support of education and to become so very reliant on the
state leaves me somewhat concerned.
Also Ventura proposes a 2% cap on education spening this biennium. With
the current utilities and fuels costs up siginificantly from this time last
year, the school district is faced with utility bills that have doubled and
fuel for transportation half again higher than what was projected. We are
no different in that respect from every home and business owner who is
facing the same dilemma. Yet we are to become, under Ventura's tax plan,
much more dependent on the state.
If he is serious about funding public education, then I would like to see
more of an effort on the part of the Gov. to help school districts right
now. There are programs to help low income families with heating costs,
maybe right now we need to consider this for school districts on a short
term, emergency basis. I don't see the state or the Federal govt. fully
funding their many mandates now, so I feel uneasy at this point about a
proposal that makes our schools more dependant on the state.
Audrey Johnson
10th Ward & MPS BOE Director
