Education Both “Yes and No” in Rochester

11/08/2006

Paul Munnis

Two referendum issues on the Rochester ballot dealt with our school system.

The first, Question 1, asked if we should restore the funding about to expire for student support. The continuation was for about $400 per pupil in Rochester. Rochester has about 21,000 students.

It passed and so its ‘business as usual’ for our schools with no cuts planned for the near future.

The second, Question 2, was a bit more amorphous. It asks if we would add $200 more per pupil to the funding thus giving planning authorization for unspecified future improvements in education. It failed.

The failure is attributed to the vague nature of the authorization, the large amount of overall money involved, and the uncertainty about State initiatives for education following the election.

As most readers know, our State has taken over the responsibility for our schools, this included funding, and local communities have had to raise property taxes to fix the lack of state funding for our schools.

If Mike Hatch had been elected that would have been fixed. With Pawlenty back in office, and with a Democratic controlled MN House and Senate in control of the legislature, this is an area requiring legislative focus in the next biennium budget cycle.

Depending upon how that legislation goes the question of future student funding will rest.