St. Paul schools Superintendent Valeria Silva recently announced that her district will close several buildings and cut 117 positions because of a $27.5 million budget gap. And in his most recent budget message, St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman said a $14 million shortfall for 2010 would mean fewer employees and pay cuts for some city workers.
Both officials and their boards made tough, necessary fiscal choices in these "do more with less" times. And with both driven by financial hardship, they are wisely finding more ways to collaborate. For example, last week they announced expanded joint efforts to keep kids learning through the summer.
Understanding that a strong education system helps build a stronger city, Silva and Coleman meet regularly to discuss aligning programs to better educate city students. As a result, city departments and the schools are stepping up cooperation in three major areas: integrating programs, sharing facilities and staff, and setting common strategies. They're sensibly joining forces to assure that every St. Paul child has access to educational activities during the summer months. That smart strategy makes efficient use of limited resources and promises to produce smarter students and stronger communities.
When kids plug in to educational activities during summer, they are less likely to find trouble and more likely to do better during the school year. And as successful students, they have a better chance of graduating from high school and college on a path to becoming productive, contributing adults.
Recreation centers, libraries and schools in St. Paul are rightly teaming up to make educational programs available to any St. Paul student who wants to participate this summer. In the past, each entity had its own schedule of events, sometime duplicating efforts. By working together to align programs, they'll make better use of facilities and can combine services under one roof. When kids come to the rec center for swimming or basketball, why not have fun reading, science or math programs there for them as well?
To reinforce the cooperative effort, for the first time this year city and school district brochures on summer offerings include information about the other programs. Another first this year for St. Paul is making maximum use of social networking; kids and families can follow information about summer options online and via cell phone through Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and text messaging.
In addition to working with the city, the district has a partnership with Ramsey County to provide educational and support services for Maxfield and Jackson schools, two of the district's most academically challenged schools.
The Promising Neighborhood Initiative is receiving federal funds to develop something similar to the Harlem Children's Zone in New York City. The two St. Paul schools will receive help to boost academic achievement, and communities around them will get improved, "wrap-around" health, housing and other social services to support student learning.
