Heinzman education editorial made unfounded inaccurate claims

Posted 9/27/01

Heinzman education editorial made unfounded inaccurate claims

To the editor:

In a recent opinion column for this paper, editorial writer Don Heinzman said that ìsuburban legislators failed their school districtsî this year. Heinzman went on to say that ìhad it not been for the DFL Party, suburban school districts might have gotten even less.î

These are absolutely unfounded, inaccurate claims. The fact is the DFL-controlled Senate is the reason why suburban school districts got shortchanged this year! In their education bill, the Senate proposed a very bad policy known as the ì$415 Swapî ñ an expensive provision that only helps poor rural school districts with little or no referendum. This $415 Swap also drove up the compensatory formula which largely benefits inner city schools and to a lesser extent some rural and inner-ring suburban schools. The result: there was $64.4 million less to put on the basic per-pupil general education formula, which gets distributed to all Minnesota school districts in a fair and equitable manner.

House Republicans adamantly opposed the $415 Swap. Unfortunately, eager to bring the special session to a close, Governor Ventura sided with the DFL Senateís ìtargetedî education plan, making it two against one.

Under the education bill advocated by House Republicans and passed by the full House of Representatives, over 300 of Minnesotaís 350 school districts would have received more state funding than under the bill advocated by the DFL Senate. Instead of targeting funding to certain school districts and pet projects, our bill focused on putting more dollars on the per-pupil formula ñ which benefits all districts, not just a few. The bill put more money in the classroom where it actually helps our children.

The public needs to know that since 1999, the year Republicans won control of the Minnesota House of Representatives, we have pushed for and passed a record $1.7 billion in spending for K-12 education ñ including a real basic per-pupil formula increase of $532. If you compare this to the previous four years when the DFL controlled both the House and Senate, the formula grew only $210. So Mr. Heinzman, please donít say that the DFL Party helps our suburban schools.

As chair of the House K-12 Education Finance Committee, I am proud of the legislators representing suburban areas. We have and will continue to fight for fair and equitable funding for our schools. I would hope that Mr. Heinzman would strive for fair and equitable reporting.

Rep. Alice Seagren,
R-Bloomington, chairs the House K-12 Education Finance Committee.