Editorial: Grant underscores school funding flaws

Minnesota schools need stable, equitable funding.

Last update: May 11, 2008 - 4:58 PM

The Cooper High School community in Robbinsdale can exhale -- a little. A recent $300,000 grant will keep arts and athletic programs alive for at least another year.

The gift from the William and Nadine McGuire family foundation will also help low-income families pay extracurricular fees and restore proposed cuts to the drama department and chess club.

That's great news for students at Cooper, and the McGuires' willingness to keep important educational programs alive is admirable. Still, the grant illustrates a deeper, continuing problem with public education in Minnesota. Because state and local funding has not kept pace with rising school expenses, districts increasingly look to nonprofits or other sources to cover what should be basics -- things like retaining art and music programs.

That's not a stable, sustainable or equitable way to support education. What happens to schools and districts that don't have benefactors? Don't children in those public schools deserve the same educational offerings as other students?

In addition to equity questions, the short-term nature of donations is troubling. Robbinsdale school officials, for example, acknowledge that the contribution to Cooper is a temporary fix. Unless school leaders find another funding source, the same programs will be back on the chopping block next year.

And though private help restored programs to one school, other schools within Robbinsdale were not so fortunate. After voters there rejected a property tax hike last fall, school board members expect to reduce overall school spending by more than $5 million.

Dozens of Minnesota districts face the same challenge. Three years ago, parents in several metro-area districts held fundraising drives to save teaching positions. Today, some of those same school systems have to cut staff and programs because communities could not sustain those fundraising efforts. And in some communities, failure to pass levy referendums has translated into major budget cuts.

About a third of Minnesota's 340 school systems expect to slash about $104 million from their budgets this year, which will lead to larger class sizes and layoffs of more than 1,000 teachers statewide, according to estimates from the state and the Minnesota 2020 think tank.

Bake sales, donation drives and outside grants can't fill those types of budget holes. It's commendable that donors are willing to open their wallets to help schools, but those contributions should supplement, not replace, public dollars for core programs.

That's one of the reasons the state should make education finance reform a priority. Investing in education is essential to Minnesota's common good and future prosperity. Schools need funding that is adequate, reliable and equitable.

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