2011 District 279 Parent Legislative Network Legislative Platform

The District 279 Parent Legislative Network is a group of community members who volunteer their time to advocate at the legislative level for the students of District 279 Osseo Area Schools.

The District 279 Parent Legislative Network believes that our current legislators need to fulfill their duty as a legislature to provide a “Uniform System of Public Schools” as stated below in the Minnesota State Constitution.

Section 1. UNIFORM SYSTEM OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS. The stability of a republican form of government depending mainly upon the intelligence of the people, it is the duty of the legislature to establish a general and uniform system of public schools. The legislature shall make such provisions by taxation or otherwise as will secure a thorough and efficient system of public schools throughout the state.

The District 279 PLN believes the Minnesota Legislature Should:

1)  Enact legislation that will eliminate the significant and growing disparity in educational   opportunities that public school students across MN experience due to our state’s ever increasing reliance on voter approved local levies to fund basic operating expenses of schools.

• The original intention of levies was to allow districts to opt for “extras” not to fund basic operating expenses.
• Educating the general voting public on the complex issues of school funding and the use of levies is extremely difficult.
• Volunteer groups of parents/community members are left to run “Vote Yes” levy campaigns.  These groups lack the financial resources and time required to create and carry out these campaigns in our large diverse communities.   A parent’s time is better used helping their children with homework.
• If Osseo Area Schools levied as much as neighboring districts such as Minnetonka, Wayzata and Hopkins; Osseo Area Schools would have had $90 million dollars more over the past three years to spend educating our students. ($45 million in operating levy and $45 million in technology levy.

2) Enact legislation to provide adequate, predictable and stable funding, through reforming the education funding formula, making local property taxes more fair, and ensuring schools receive money held back by accounting shifts.

• Stable predictable funding is essential to allow districts to plan and utilize funds efficiently and effectively for programs that improve student achievement.
• Since the state sets standards for education in MN, the state should also determine the cost to meet those standards and fund education appropriately based on that cost.
• Per pupil funding increases equal to the true cost of inflation should be included in the new funding formula.
• The local property taxes homeowners pay to generate local tax revenue for schools needs to be more uniform and fair.
• Legislation needs to require that the state pay school districts the money owed them due to the accounting shifts used to balance past state budgets.  A specific timeline needs to be set for this money to be repaid.

3)  Enact legislation to decrease burdensome mandates and allow local flexibility with the current very limited resources.

• Health and safety regulations and related paperwork that don’t have an impact on student or employee safety need to be eliminated.
• School Boards should be given the option to publish meeting minutes electronically rather than in local newspapers.  As required by law Osseo Area Schools pays more than $10,000 per year to publish school board minutes in the paper.
• Any new mandate must include the resources to implement the program, mandates without required resources should be avoided.