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I am here in support of Senate bill SF1304 authored by Senator Steve Kelley which is a bi-partisan demonstration of support for K 12 education in MN.

Ladies and gentlemen, education is the great equalizer.  With certainty, our forefathers intended for our children to be educated as the only constitutional mandate in this state is to provide for public education.  I can also say with certainty that we have gotten off track in this state in the past few years. We must stop this destructive process.  We’ve had dollars taken away from the classrooms but see no relief from government mandates.

I come from a humble background, I’m a Rice Streeter.  We are talking of funding our education system on the backs of healthcare for the underserved which is nothing to be proud of.  Let me tell you what that means to me and others like me: My mother, an unknown hero, died of a stroke when I was 13 because of being a medical experiment- she was one of the first ever to have a heart valve transplant in 1966 but was unable to afford the life preserving medications (blood thinners) that were needed for the rest of her life.  My father died when I was 19 because of a statement from a welfare worker that if he didn’t show that he was taking care of himself by EATING more, that they would institutionalize him, he never went back to the doctor and he died a year after this statement was made from congestive heart failure.  I was left to care for my brother who was in high school and my mentally challenged aunt.  Through out this time there was one legacy that was provided to me: Public Education.  My parents may have been of humble origins financially, however, they always believed that their daughter would do well and they encouraged me to pursue my education with vigor. I graduated in the top 10 in my class and went on to college with scholarships and grants and cared for these 2 important people in my family while I worked 30 hours, 6 days a week for 3 years.   I am no longer of humble financial means, however, I find that I can not abandon my roots and ask that we fund public education, which is not a welfare program as many are saying, through Senate Bill 1304. 

Currently, my children attend public school Stillwater School District 834.  In the past 4 years, we have seen approximately 10% or 8 million dollars cut from our classrooms.  Our district is one of the most efficiently run districts in the state with 3.4% for administration which includes salaries of our school principals.  We’ve been planning to cut again.  With no increase in funding we would be faced with $4 million in cuts.  With the governor’s plan, we would have to reduce only $3 million.

With Senate Bill 1304 we are able to keep our classrooms at the generous sizes that they’ve been.  With this bill, the best offered to date, we can then keep 40 kids in the high school classrooms, 34-35 in junior high classes, 30 + kids in the upper grades of our elementaries compared to the ratio shown on this flyer from a parochial school that touts a 14 to 1 ratio (Concordia Academy, Roseville) which is 1/3 of the ratios that I am asking for today.  I ask you to pass this bill so that we can keep all of these high ratios in place for our children, not increase them again!  This I find truly amazing and shameful, because I feel as though I’m letting my kids down!!!  But yet, it’s a start and one that must be made, we must have a new beginning.

It’s up to you ladies and gentlemen to keep opportunities out there for all of our students.  Keep this great state just that by bringing back support of public education and do not rob Peter to pay Paul as you are doing your important work in this great building that our forefathers thought to put on this ground. One last point, I watched the news this morning and would add that a fiscally prudent Rice Streeter would say that if we can’t afford to pay for public education, why would we need a new stadium?  And finally, yes, I would pay more in taxes if need be.