John D. Schwetman
Assistant Professor
Department of English
As educators at a state-funded university, we who teach at UMD have a distinct perspective on the importance of Duluth’s public schools and the consequences for our community that will result from choking off funding for them.
Duluth’s Independent School District #709 is currently in the fifth and final year of an operating levy that provides invaluable to support the functioning of our local schools.
In order to maintain this property-tax-based funding, voters must authorize its continuation by voting “yes” in an election on November 5th, 2013. If the levy fails to receive the necessary votes, the school district faces cuts of $3.6 million from an already weak school budget.
Duluth for Education is a grass-roots committee of concerned Duluth residents that is sponsoring the Stand Up for Kids campaign to pass the operating levy. Our committee has been very pleased with ISD 709 Superintendent Bill Gronseth’s decision to hold 50 community meetings attended by over 2000 Duluthians in the past year to identify a consensus regarding school funding. Based on data from these meetings, Superintendent Gronseth and the Duluth School Board have put a very thoughtful referendum question before the voters this fall. It involves two tiers:
Tier 1: This maintains our current levy of $4.4 million district-wide and does not raise property taxes over existing levels. In addition, it brings $1.1 million in supplementary income into the district from Minnesota’s state government public education funds.
Tier 2: This level will bring in all of the funding from Tier 1 plus an added $1.8 million into the Duluth ISD budget. This second tier represents a modest tax increase as follows:
- $125,000 Home: $3.15/Mo
- $150,000 Home: $3.78/Mo
- $200,000 Home: $5.04/Mo
- $250,000 Home: $6.30/Mo
The Duluth for Education committee cannot speak for how the school board will choose to spend this added money, state law stipulates that they can only spend it in the classroom. The district has indicated that it will, based on feedback from community meetings, spend the money to reduce class sizes, shrink the achievement gap, and update technology and classroom learning resources available to students and teachers.
The Stand Up for Kids campaign is currently seeking community support in the form of contributions to the campaign—checks made out to “Duluth for Education” work well—volunteer hours at phones and/or doors, yard sign placement and generally spreading the word. Interested parties can visit our website at www.standupforkidsduluth.com or e-mail us at info@standupforkidsduluth.com. Duluth’s ISD #709 has also provided information at http://sites.google.com/a/isd709.org/district/home/november-5-ballot.
In addition, keep an eye out for upcoming Stand Up for Kids fundraising events. We are thankful to the University Education Association Executive Committee for supporting a “yes” vote on both tiers of the levy and for offering a forum whereby UMD faculty can acquire added information about what is at stake in this referendum.
I am confident that we can join with concerned citizens, parents, and our colleagues in the Duluth Federation of Teachers to support better schools for all. Members of UMD’s faculty are well-positioned to make the case that Duluth’s future success depends on present-day support of our public schools. We know that our future colleagues will consider the quality of Duluth’s schools when deciding whether or not to move to Duluth to teach here. We know that a portion of our students will be better prepared to study here if they come from a community that supports its schools. Please be sure to vote “yes” on both tiers of the referendum and to talk it up with friends, colleagues and neighbors. What happens on November 5th will have lasting consequences for the UMD and Duluth communities.