[speedgibson] Speed Gibson: Education Funding: Reality

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Posted by Speed Gibson:
Education Funding: Reality
http://speedgibson.powerblogs.com/posts/1206501285.shtml


   Monday, I posited that [1]K-12 Education is at best the number four
   priority at the Legislature, behind pork, light rail (which is also
   pork), and welfare. The new DFL deficit-closing proposal again
   confirms that the DFL won't cut HHS; it's the foundation of their push
   for "universal" health care.
   Add to that premise this next assertion. Had the Legislature somehow
   added $1 billion to the budget five years ago, we would now be in
   roughly the same situation today. Education Minnesota and the other
   unions would have negotiated accordingly. As a corollary, passing the
   equivalent in referendums would produce the same result.
   There comes a time when you just have to say that this ain't working.
   By "you" I mean the School Boards. By "this" I mean the DFL "feed you
   with an eyedropper" paradigm. The DFL talks a lot about education
   funding, but not enough to put it ahead of stadiums, fish tanks, light
   rail trains, and hockey arenas. In a perverse way, given that the vast
   majority of the pork winds up in DFL districts, only in Republican
   districts does K-12 Education get a greater percent of the largess.
   Here in District 281, a great deal of effort at several levels goes
   toward lobbying the Legislature. Again, this ain't working. So why are
   we (281) pretending that it does?
   My question for the next post: what if we quit the game?

References

   1. http://speedgibson.powerblogs.com/posts/1206416076.shtml