Does he or doesn’t he? Pawlenty claims unallottment authority, but school districts not sure

Norman Draper’s piece on the $1.75 billion education accounting shift, in today’s Star Tribune, points out that while Pawlenty may claim the authority to shift payments without legislative approval, this is by no means accepted.  

What, wondered [Peggy Ingison, Minneapolis Public Schools' Chief Financial Officer], happens if the Legislature decides not to approve such shifts?

“It puts us out on a limb,” she said. A big funding shift, she said, merely compounds the problem of schools getting no new money while facing increased costs due to inflation.

Most of the Capitol press corps seems to accept that Pawlenty will get his way somehow, particularly since there will probably be no special legislative session this year.

Filed under: Minneapolis, Budget Crisis, Minnesota, Tim Pawlenty, Unallotments

Education likely to take a hit with Accounting Shifts (Updated and Bumped)

With the desperate, impassioned efforts to override Tim Pawlenty’s vetoes essentially over, most of the high drama around this biennium’s budget is essentially over.  Like other sections of the budget, E-12 Education takes a hit through accounting shifts — where the state delays paying this year’s per-pupil funding until next year — but DFL education champ Rep. Mindy Greiling (DFL – Roseville) is calling it ‘good enough’, because the core legislation does not reduce school funding.  

According to MPR’s Polinaut blog, the shift will be worth $1.775 billion, or almost 13% of the $13.7 billion appropriated by HF 2.  To fill the holes in their budgets, districts will have to borrow enough money to tide them over into the next fiscal year, when the state money will be delivered.  This, though, increases each district’s debt burden, reducing the amount of money they can spend on classrooms, busing, etc. because they will have to pay interest on the borrowed money.  In terms of immediate, local impact, this could speed up the closure of three St Paul elementary schools that were originally slated to close after the 2009-10 school year.

Update (5/19/09; 11:30am): Bill Sailsbury of the PiPress says Pawlenty may delay repaying the nearly-$1.8 billion in shifts until the 2012-13 biennium.  Wow!  That’s gonna smart.  Particularly because he’s been so resistant to raising additional revenue, instead of hoping that the economy will quickly recover, and revenues will rise to provide education funding for that biennium AND money to pay back the shifts.  

Because the DFL essentially threw their budget proposal back in the governor’s face after he vetoed it the first time, the Governor will likely make good on his threat to unilatterally unallot what spending he doesn’t like, come June 1.  Pawlenty hasn’t said he will target education for cuts, but it’s still up in the air until he makes his decisions public; furthermore, several school districts around the state are in statutory operating debt, or very near, and unallotments may sink them if they are not handled sensatively.  PIM’s Dan Feidt has Speaker Kelliher’s take on Pawlenty’s plans:

12:50 a.m. update: Speaker Kelliher talked to a former governor and “friend” about unallotment and fiscal responsibility on the way in. The unallotment statute was put in for emergencies, she says, “probably an extreme stretch” of what was intended by the statute. If a DFL governor did this kind of unallotment, there would be a similar concern. “it will be the sixth time in history… and for him, the third time using the tool.” It was his “backstop” or “walkaway point” which he was willing to use to walk away. Kelliher expects there may be people who use to try unallotment, she says.

Filed under: Minnesota, St Paul, Budget Crisis, Education, Education Funding, Large-Scale System Change, St Paul Public Schools, Tim Pawlenty

Conference Committees and Education Funding — Why I love MN Budget Bites

They sit in conference committees so we don’t have to.  I admit, I’m a bit of a wonk (My weekend reading will be pouring over a big chunk of data from Minneapolis Public Schools that accompanied the administration’s original proposal), but even I try to avoid legislative sessions like the plague.  Fortunately, there’s Minnesota Budget Bites, who’ve got a very readable rundown on the three competing E-12 budget proposals from the House, Senate, and Governor Tim Pawlenty, that are being hashed out in conference committee this week and next.   Some highlights:

• Use of federal stimulus dollars
• Dollar figures for several reform innitiatives, including the House’s New Minnesota Miracle ($0 — they just want to put the funding formula into law, so it can slowly be phased in from 2014 on), and T-Paw’s expansion of the Q-Comp pay-for-performance program and financial rewards for districts that raise students’ test scores ($91 million for the latter, an unnamed combo of state and increased local contributions for the former)
• Local property tax relief 

Filed under: Minnesota, Budget Crisis, Education, Education Funding, Education Reform, Mindy Greiling, Minnesota, Q Comp, Stimulating Stimuli, Tim Pawlenty

St Paul Public Schools are Downsizing, too! (Updated)

Some innitial thoughts on the St Paul Public Schools’ new downsizing plan (pdf) to be presented at tonight’s school board meeting.  Background available here and here.

1) Similar to Minneapolis’ downsizing plan, this sticks a lot of the richer white neighborhoods off in their own quadrant. both the Mac-Groveland and Highland Park neighborhoods are in the same region.  Both are very white, and median family income is in the $69-79,000 range.  Will this impact district politics by focusing privileged voices around a few schools?

2) This may do an even worse job of solving structural budget issues than the Minneapolis Public Schools plan did.   I can’t find a good breakdown of the SPPS deficit on their website right now, but the total savings listed in the PowerPoint is only $2.2 million from the busing reductions and $2.4 million from closing three elementary schools, folding Humboldt Jr. High into the Sr. High, and rep-purposing one closed elementary building, possibly for administrative space.  That’s a long way from the district’s $25 million shortfall from Fiscal Year 2008-2009 to FY ’09-10.  (By way of comparison: around $9 million of Minneapolis schools’ $28 million budget shortfall is caused by declining enrollment)

3) I’m impressed by the relative openness of the decision-making process: input requested, priorities formulated, and decisions based off of a ranking/grading system that’s put up in the presentation.  This is a far cry from the way Minneapolis carried out their planning — many parents I’ve spoken with complained that they couldn’t see how parents’ input had influenced the development of scenarios.

4) Why the hell did SPPS join Q-Comp?  Why did the SPPS administration propose to join the Q-Comp program? This is a program that has been losing school districts, and was recently canned as not ready to be expanded, because there wasn’t enough evidence to prove it was an effective teacher-development tool.  The St Paul Federation of teachers will have to approve this aspect of the plan in the coming round of contract negotiations.

Filed under: Minnesota, St Paul, Budget Crisis, Education, Education Funding, Minnesota, Q Comp, St Paul Public Schools

Budget Battles: the local angle

Lisa Yarost/Flickr

Only in financial times like these can you hear things in school board meetings that make your blood run cold, or at least a bit nippy.  Like an additional $10 million in cuts to the school budget, on top of a $25 million shortfall.  

Filed under: Minnesota, St Paul, Budget Crisis, Education, Education Funding, Minnesota, St Paul

Monday Schools’ Roundup – Sickening Budget Crisis / Integration Woes / Ed Reform in China

 

Flickr/ingirogio

Today, I’ve got some good news and some bad news.  First, the bad:

 

• MPR points out that between them, Minnesota public and charter public schools have around $1 billion in reserves, an unprecedented amount.  Some state legislators argue that this means they can handle a deferred payments from the state, or a cut in the education budget as legislators try to plug the $4.5 billion hole in the state budget.  (MPR)
• Why is this bad? because some schools, like the St. Louis County schools, in the Iron Range, are so desperate for funds, they’re closing schools.  This re-organization, though, might mean the district will loose up to $2.1 million in sparsity aid (given to schools that draw students from a very wide area).  “We can envision no scenario that would keep the district out of statutory operating debt without sparsity aid,” said a consultant helping the district. (Mesabi Daily News / Timberjay Newspapers)
• Meanwhile, St. Cloud schools are considering raising taxes to fill their deficit, and Mendota Heights school leaders are taking a pay freeze, and schools in Michigan are skeptical that federal stimulus money – intended to help schools stave off budget crises – will help, or even be accepted by most schools because it has so many strings attached. (St Cloud Times / Pioneer Press / Adrian Daily Telegram)

Now, the good news!

• The federal government is considering simplifying the colelge student financial aid process. (MN Daily)
• Fargo-Moorehead students are back in class after spending two weeks manning the levees on the Red River (Associated Press)
• Many metro-area districts are echoing Minneapolis Schools’ complaints that current integration efforts like the West Metro Education Program are not working.  This may sound like a death-knell for these integration efforts, but it also means there is an energy that can be channeled for reform and progress.

Lastly, China considders reforms to their higher education system (BeijingReview.com.cn), and the NY Times’ Room for Debate blog gives five common food myths.

Filed under: Minneapolis, Minnesota, National, Budget Crisis, Education, Education Funding, Education Reform, Minnesota, Segregation, Stimulating Stimuli

Friday’s Schools Roundup — T-Paw’s Suspect Budget / Cops in Mpls Schools / Snuggies!

This morning, the state Senate’s Finance Committee approved Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s education budget, but critics and education activists are questioning the wisdom of relying on Federal stimulus funds to fund a $100 million increase that the state won’t be able to support when the stimulus money runs out in two years.  The  Education and Taxes committees will both have a say before the full Senate votes on the bill later this month. (Hometown Source / MN Daily)

In Minneapolis, city cops are returning to the halls of public schools after a 5-year hiatus where the Park Police provided these school liaison officers.  The Star Tribune article says the aim is to “de-criminalize ‘school’ behavior”, but is sketchy on what that means.  From the reduced number of cases referred to courts cited in the story, it sounds like these officers are trying to mediate disputes and discipline problems in the school, without threatening legal action.

Lastly, someone has organized a “snuggie bar crawl.”   James Lileks reports…

Filed under: Minneapolis, Minnesota, Budget Crisis, Education, Education Funding, Minneapolis Public Schools, News, Stimulating Stimuli

Wednesday’s Schools Roundup — Minorities in Suburbia / Budget Woes / Finally, Stimulus News!

Last month’s fight around the West Metro Education Program centered around issues of segregation in suburban districts.  Now the Pew Hispanic Center has a report out, giving a national overview of the increase in the suburbs’ minority population.  However, the researchers note that most minority students attend schools that are majority non-white — like cities, the suburbs are segregating.  Unfortunately, the report doesn’t go into the economic demographics of the trend.

Filed under: Minneapolis, Minnesota, National, St Paul, Achievement Gap, Arne Duncan, Budget Crisis, Education, Education Funding, Minneapolis Public Schools, News, Segregation, St Paul Public Schools, Stimulating Stimuli

Tuesday Schools Round-up – Teacher Performance Pay/Colleges like rich kids/Low grad rates at HBCUs

Photo: Smitten Kitchen

Good afternoon (eesh! I need to get this out earlier!), and welcome to Tuesday’s Schools News Round-up. A short selection of stories today, followed by a truly unbreakable bread recipe:

 

• In the absence of much news out of the Minnesota Department of Education about how they are planning for federal stimulus dollars, we turn to Illinois and Georgia for examples of what other states are thinking. (Chicago Tribune / Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

Filed under: Minneapolis, Minnesota, National, Achievement Gap, Budget Crisis, College Access, Education, Education Funding, Food, News, Performance Pay, Stimulating Stimuli, Teacher Quality

Monday Schools Roundup (3/23/09)

 

(Photo: Flickr/Ingirogiro)

Today, for your delectation, we have updates on three stories I’ve been following here at TC Schools, plus potato chip cookies (wierd, I know…)

 

 First, St Paul Public School’s Superintendent, Meria Carstarphen, was formally offered the job as Austin schools’ Superintendent.  Even though Carstarphen was declared the sole finalist earlier this month, the Austin school board had to wait out a 21-day public comment period, with two meetings  where the public could question Carstarphen and air their views on her appointment.  Sadly (for us interested observers), it doesn’t sound like there were any fireworks.  Carstarphen will finish out the school year here in Minnesota before moving to Austin this summer; the Austin paper summarizes challenges awaiting her.

Next, a rather obscure bill that would give teachers at traditional public schools a much more direct hand in how their individual schools are run seems to be gathering steam.  At least, the proponents have convinced a Star-Tribune columnist.  When I first heard about the bill, it was hard to see how the bill would get traction — not directly related to Minnesota’s huge defecit, you’d think lawmakers would ignore it, even if it has a number of high-powered backers like the Minneapolis and St Paul teacher’s unions.  Sturdevant’s column, though, shows backers are trying to sell it as a cost-saving measure: let teachers run their own schools (a la charters), and there will be lower administrative cots.

Third, Scott County schools (think: Savage, Shakopee, etc.) are taking “baby steps” to address increasing segregation in their districts as immigrants (and poverty) moves to the suburbs.  At the West Metro Education Project parents’ meeting two weeks ago, Minneapolis Board of Education Director Chris Stewart told me that some suburban districts flat-out of trying to segregate all their low-income students and students of color into a few select schools (he refused to name specific schools).  The content of this article suggests there may have been something to his accusation.

Lastly, the Pioneer Press has two of what I assume will be a larger serries of stories on the death of school sports in Minnesota.  The PiPress’ Bob Shaw blames it on hyper-compettetive kids-athletes and a generation of helecopter parents who push kids to win above all else.  Kids are pushing back, he says, by dropping out of sports that are no longer fun.

And finally, Potato Chip, Chocolate Chip Cookies.  Intriguing, sure.  But eeew!

Filed under: Announcements, Minneapolis, Minnesota, St Paul, Achievement Gap, Announcements, Budget Crisis, Education, Education Policy, Meria Carstarphen, News, Segregation, St Paul Public Schools