$60M School Referendum Proposal
From:
Tim Salo
Date:
May 16 01:11 UTC
Short link
james graham wrote:
>
> Additional money thrown at a terrible product we are
> asked to pay MORE for? Did anyone hear about that
> waterfront property in the beautiful Louisiana
> "wetland" that is for sale? I certainly hope the
> voters of Minneapolis will finally say enough is
> enough. Throwing money at a failed system will not help.
Would it be reasonable to assume that the author, after
complaining about crime in his neighborhood, will suggest
that funding for the Minneapolis police department be
_cut_??? Or, after seeing a neighbor's house burn to the
ground, suggest that funding for the Minneapolis
fire department be _cut_???
> What was the dropout rate for poor children? Approximately
> 50% someone has said on the List.
As far as I understand, students entering kindergarten
in Minneapolis are less prepared for school than perhaps
any other school district in the state. (Can someone
confirm that?) These childrens' families have failed them,
their communities have failed them. On top of that,
the author apparently begrudges these children for being
so expensive to educate.
> The Minneapolis school system needs to be thrown out
> and reorganized, not have more money sunk down this rat
> hole. I do not mind paying a fair share for a good
> product but I am personally insulted that I am asked
> to pay for incompetence.
What "product" is the author talking about? I don't
believe that any other school system faces comparable
demographic challenges, and so it would seem to be
extremely unfair to compare the effectiveness of the MPS
with any other school system. Sure, the Edina school
system is effective at graduating children from
motivated, and generally already successful, families.
But, comparing the MPS to Edina hardly seems fair.
Given the the author's apparent resistance to put
forth incremental money to educate Minnesota's most
challenging student population, I would be really
surprised if he was willing to put forth the money
necessary to completely revamp the school system.
.