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To: tim.pawlenty@state.mn.us, rep.margaret.kelliher@house.mn, rep.mark.olson@house.mn, sen.betsy.wergin@senate.mn Subject: Please fund our schools at the state level Hi, I am a parent and citizen of the Big Lake School District 727. It saddens me that historically we have lived in a great state for education. Yet Big Lake's per pupil funding is the fourth lowest district in the state. My kids are getting robbed. If our levy fails...there will be drastic cuts that negatively affect our students and community. I have spent a lot of my "free" time on this issue. I have volunteered seven of my evenings this past month and several hours on the weekend in support of the levy in my area. I have lost sleep over this and had many tense conversations with friends and neighbors about it. Gaining support for our local levy is especially hard right now given the cost of everything...basic needs like milk and gas...pending foreclosures...and lost jobs. And people do not understand this crazy funding, that the state makes mandates and we get to come up with the funding for them, etc. And adults get angry at the school district when they do not understand funding and the need for referendums while the children suffer when a levy fails. We voted you in at the legislature to represent us. We trust you to pass laws for us for everything besides school funding. We, parents & teachers, have to work in our town to get our community to agree to vote for more taxes for our own children's public school. This is ridiculous! We vote for you to do this work for us...to vote on taxes that affect the well-being of our state's citizens. I am 100% fine paying taxes for educating our children. Let's bring it back to the state level. Please start funding schools better and making them a number one priority in our state. Now I risk looking for other school options for my children if this levy fails, that only hurts my district more if we take our children out and open enroll somewhere else. Thank you for your time, Gretchen Peterson | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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