[speedgibson] Speed Gibson: T.E.R.M. Paper: Transportation 1

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Posted by Speed Gibson:
T.E.R.M. Paper: Transportation 1
http://speedgibson.powerblogs.com/posts/1235325071.shtml


   [cooltext_TERM.jpg] The Referendum has passed. The right-sizing has
   been made. The resulting program restorations have been adopted. The
   Legislature has yet to weigh in, but the 2009-2010 Budget can and will
   now take shape. And, I can resume my T.E.R.M. paper to see if I can
   make District 281's finances more understandable.
   As a State Legislator recently admitted on a radio interview, school
   finances for whatever the reason are much harder to interpret than
   say, city budgets. I like a car analogy. You go to a dealer and ask,
   "How much for that Bulgemobile Sultan over there?" The salesman gives
   you figures on how much they pay for the engines, transmissions,
   axles, fenders, seats, brake assemblies, air conditioning compressers,
   and so on. He shows you charts of what the assembly line workers make,
   and average hours per station. He lists the General and Administrative
   costs, Research and Development expenditures, and taxes paid, plus the
   transportation costs in putting that Sultan on the showroom floor.
   Another book lists all the buildings involved, from the factory to the
   dealership, with maintenance and utility costs shown. And none of it
   answers the original question: how much for the car? How much to
   educate my child?
   In response to some recent commenters, I think I'm going to start with
   transportation. Again, the recent decisions should help because we
   won't have co-mingled operations like the Robbinsdale Area Learning
   Campus (RALC) any more. The RALC currently houses a middle school
   operation and the Robbinsdale Spanish Immersion (RSI) program, which
   is K-8 today. The alignment of the elementary / middle / high school
   boundaries also helps.
   Starting this fall, there will be six categories of Transportation:
    1. Daily, to your assigned school
    2. RSI, from throughout the District to the re-purposed Sunny Hollow
       building.
    3. IB (International Baccalaureate), from non-IB areas to IB schools.
    4. AP (Advanced Placement), from non-AP areas to AP schools.
    5. Events, for field trips, away games, etc.
    6. Other - transportation for ECFE (Early Childhood Family
       Education), Community Education, or other non K-12 activity.

   Some of these like IB and AP are in flux I believe, either being
   phased out or possibly restored. I will find out. Some of these are
   essential, like Daily and Events. Some are not, like RSI and IB in my
   opinion. I'll sort this out when I get the figures assembled.