Parents urge lawmakers to raise taxes for education

"MN Education"

02/26/2005

Norman Draper, Star Tribune
February 25, 2005

Minnesota legislators got an earful on taxes from more than 200 parents and educators Thursday night at Hopkins’ Katherine Curren Elementary School.

But these tax protesters want higher taxes.

“Please find a consistent revenue stream for education,” Hopkins schools parent Marti Nelson told members of the Senate’s two K-12 education committees. “Raise my taxes!” The crowd of educators, parents, and school board members whooped, hollered and applauded.

One parent turned to ask the audience how many of them would be willing to see their taxes go up to get more money for schools. A forest of hands shot up.

The public forum in the Katherine Curren gym was an effort by members of the Senate Education Committee and K-12 education budget division to get out of their Senate committee rooms and away from crowds of lobbyists, and into community settings to listen to what people have to say about schools. Committee members already held a public forum in Rochester on Feb. 10, and plan at least one more in Hastings on March 15.

With the state budget for schools being set this year for the next two years, the DFL-dominated committees have been trying to plumb public sentiment on how to better fund public schools.

Their invitations, made last November in newspapers and over radio stations for public input on schools and money, garnered hundreds of responses. Those included some unorthodox ideas, such as turning school cafeterias over to McDonald’s, charging an education tax for advertising, and dedicating license plate fees to schools.

Certainly, Thursday night’s gathering in Hopkins was heavily stacked in favor of lots more money for schools, even if that would mean raising taxes, or coming up with new ones.

Board members and administrators from various suburban districts cited the millions of dollars in budget cuts their districts have had to make. Parents targeted the testing-heavy federal No Child Left Behind school accountability law as a waste of money.

Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s school budget plan to raise the basic school funding amount by 2 percent a year without raising taxes took some hits as being way too little. Legislators were admonished to quit treating schools as if they were private businesses.

“Schools are not like businesses,” said Eden Prairie High School teacher Mike Holm. “We are not looking to make a profit. If our primary motivation was money, then we certainly wouldn’t have gone into teaching.”

And more than one parent issued a re-election warning to the legislators, who included a smattering of state representatives.

“I and many other parents are going to have one thing in mind in the next election: Did you treat our children right?” said St. Paul parent Michael Stiffman. “We’ll be watching, and I promise I will be a one-issue voter in the next election.”