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Nearly 100 school districts went out for local levies in 2007. At the end of October, Parents United invited school levy volunteers to write to state leaders about how difficult it is to fund schools through local levies and the inequities local levies create. A sampling of these letters—many sent before the Nov. 7 votes were cast—is provided below.
Toward the end of November, the Senate E-12 Education Budget Division hosted a special hearing to discuss the role of levies in education finance, examine levy results and hear citizen testimony on how the levy elections impacted local communities (Press Release). John Sievert, cochair of Stillwater Area Public Schools’ Vote Yes group testified at this hearing (written testimony).
2003-2006 efforts of parents working to find their voice in the places where decisions impacting our children, our schools are made. March 2006 - Kate Towle, Minneapolis Letter to Members of the House Education Policy and Reform Committee re: General Education Access Grants March 2006 - Marge Porter, Saint Paul Letter to State Representative Sheldon Johnson re: Class Size Legislation December 2005 - Tom Madden, Minneapolis Notes from December 7 policy forum on standardized testing. June 2005 - Kate Towle, Minneapolis E-mail to Senator Larry Pogemiller re: Vouchers and School Choices. June 2005 - Julie Schultz Brown, Saint Paul Thank you letter to Speaker of the House Steve Sviggum re: June 21, 2005 meeting. June 2005 - Kate Towle, Minneapolis Update to the Minneapolis Parent Forum on June 21, 2005 meeting with Speaker of the House Steve Sviggum. May 2005 - Doug Earl, Saint Paul Notes from May 4 presentation "The Truth about America's Schools: Setting the Record Straight" by Dr. Gerald Bracey April 2005 - Cindi Bedsted, Centennial Testimony in support of H.F. 1563 calling for additional per pupil funding. April 2005 - Marita Bujold, Saint Paul Testimony in support of S.F. 1402 urging completion of the school finance system improvement study. April 2005 - Janet O'Connell, Stillwater Testimony on SF1304 which provides $250 each year of the biennium for our public schools. March 2005 - Jeff Koon, Saint Paul Raises concerns and proposes modifications to Minnesota School Report Cards. March 2005 - Mary Cecconi, Parents United Network You would think that parents would be grateful and supportive of a bill which allows tax credits for their donations to public schools, but the truth of the matter is this bill is a symptom of our current problem in school funding—not a solution. May 2004 - Ellen Samuelson Young, Minneapolis Since Senator Day said Minneapolis and Saint Paul schools “suck” I have been sick to my stomach. And busy. I have been doing a lot of research and I want to share it with you to clear up some of the misperceptions that are out there and that are very dangerous. March 2004 - Carrie Lucking, Hopkins Things really took off when I started an online petition calling for the Senate to block the confirmation of Cheri Pierson Yecke. The petition went live in March. Within two weeks we had 2,000 signatures. February 2004 - Jennifer Armstrong, Saint Paul Why are we defining "a full year" as from October 1 to the testing date (~7 months) when we could be defining "a full year" as from testing date to testing date (12 months)? September 2003 - Paul Spies, Minneapolis I decided to “test market” the proposed standards with my family—my parents, my sister and her husband—over Sunday dinner. At first they laughed. Then they were disbelieving. July 2003 - Wendy Thompson, Bemidji None of us are necessarily born to be activists. Something lights a spark within us—for many parents, it's a child-related issue—and we do what we can to make a difference. January 2003 - Parents United for Public Schools Organizes Meeting with Representative Alice Seagren Parents asked, "What can we do?" Representative Seagren said, "Parents should run levy campaigns to the extent possible, change expectations, be innovative, and think outside the box." | | | |
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