Where Did the Money Go?
On Nov. 3, 2008, the Robbinsdale Public Schools wrote on its website concerning the referendum money they needed, “The district would also use new referendum revenue to prevent future cuts expected to be necessary as state revenue continues to increase at a rate less than inflation.” When I visited my son’s school open house, I learned that the class size increased from 23 students to 29 students. I wonder how his second-grade teacher is going to handle all of the needs of the students she serves.
There also were no new after-school activities with these new funds. This leads me to wonder where did the money go for the promise the district made of preventing cuts? With this track record, how can the district be trusted with their budget and how could they ever expect to pass a referendum in the future?
Michael Resig,
Crystal
Ah, you want to know where your money is Mr. Resig? Go to www.google.com and type in Tom Dooher.
281 Exposed 
September 22, 2010 at 3:40 am |
First, I think Mr Resig should become a bit more informed. I find it amazing when I talk to other parents and they are suprised by something that has been discussed for months or years. We had one year of reduced numbers and then the cuts were bigger than expected… And the Board gave the Teachers a raise… RAS has been telling us that the smaller class sizes were lost for months. (ie RAS speak: back to competitive with neighboring districts…)
Second, I would love to know the school that his child is attending. If it is a smaller school that has only a few classrooms, here are how the numbers work. (4 classrooms at 23 kids = 92 kids/grd. 3 classrooms at 29 kids = 87 kids/grd) So if the number of kids in the grade shifted over a threshold, it forces the school to have fewer classrooms and the kids/classroom jump fast. I mean we wouldn’t want them having only 22 second graders in a classroom. (ie 87/4) Would we?
Third, it would be interesting to see if they will add a classroom in that grd/school with the Teacher stimulus money. I know they are adding and adjusting in at least one of the 3 schools I am familiar with. Too bad the money didn’t come before all the schedules and classes were set…
4th, I am aware of various program offerings have been added back and maintained thanks to the referendum. The reality though is that revenues will need to increase some and RAS will need to watch their pennies closer if we want the goodies to stay.
October 1, 2010 at 4:28 pm |
Maybe Mr. Resig hasn’t noticed, but the economy changed a bit since 2008. Perhaps schools also feel economic shifts the way every other entity in the nation does?
October 2, 2010 at 5:32 am |
CC55441,
Tell us more about your thoughts… Funding is down due to a slow economy therefore ???
I am curious because my company froze all salaries and eliminated bonuses for 2 years due to slow sales.(ie reduced funding) Whereas RAS gave raises and increased the steps and lanes, therefore fewer teachers could be funded and class sizes went up. I still do not understand that choice. The only rationale I can come up with is that RFT had a lot of power in the negotiation during the economic downturn ???
When people are 80% of the spend 2% adds up pretty quick… ($100,000,000 x 2% = $2,000,000/yr = ~30+ lost non-tenure teachers) Thoughts?