Commentary; Posted: 4/20/05
Legislature should finalize school funding by April 15
Joe Nathan
Guest Columnist
Minnesota students and schools would be in better shape if April 15 were a double date. Everyone knows April 15 is the deadline for filing taxes. I wish it also would be established as the deadline for finalizing funding.
Right now, the legislature is supposed to adjourn in May. But there might be a special session, which could drag on into June.
Meanwhile, educators and school board members in virtually every district are becoming increasingly nervous. Will there be increased funding for schools? Almost certainly yes.
How much? No one knows. When will we know? Again, it is not certain.
Teaching is already plenty complex and challenging. It is not good for students to have teachers wondering over the next two months of school... ěWill I have a job next year? Will I have a chance to teach this summer? If I have a job next year, will it be the same job?î
Some readers regularly criticize me for being too sympathetic to teachers, because Iíve been one, because Iím married to one, and because, being part of the University of Minnesota, I am one.
Anyone reading these columns regularly knows that I sometimes criticize, sometimes question, and sometimes challenge educators. But I admit to admiring and appreciating strong educators and effective schools.
And I had the experience as a teacher, some years ago, of being laid off in the spring, spending much of the summer trying to decide if I should look elsewhere for a job, and ultimately being rehired.
It was a wrenching summer for me, and one I would not wish on anyone.
Without intending to, I think the legislature is making their educatorsí lives unnecessarily difficult.
School boards need to plan for next year. There will not be new revenue forecast between now and mid-May. No one at the legislature will become smarter or more insightful.
Students gain when educators are spending all of their energy on planning and teaching.
Early in the legislative session, Sen. Sheila Kiscaden of Rochester urged legislators of both parties to get together for a day and discuss ways they could disagree with each other while retaining their civility.
It was a valuable step. That meeting may have helped produce a bonding bill well before the end of the legislative session. And at least so far, legislators appear to be somewhat more polite to each other, even as they voice thoughtful, honest disagreements.
Good for Kiscaden, good for Governor Pawlenty and good for legislative leaders.
Perhaps this summer or fall, without the press of a November election, there could be another bi-partisan discussion.
I hope one of the decisions that come out of such a meeting is an agreement to make April 15, 2006 a double date.
Expecting a bit more from legislators will help our schools.
Editorís note: Joe Nathan directs the Center for School Change at the University of Minnesotaís Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs. He can be reached at jnathan@hhh.umn.edu.
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