What a revolutionary idea: Put the biggest share of the public education dollar into the classroom! Seventy percent is the level Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty proposed this week.
Which raises the question: Where's the money going now if less than 70 percent is spent for classroom instruction? The Minnesota Education Department's calculations show 67 of the state's 343 districts meet the 70 percent figure, among them Moorhead and Detroit Lakes. Some in the area fall short, including Fergus Falls and Barnesville.
Local school district officials reacted predictably. Can't be done, said some. Defining "classroom" varies from district to district, said others. Still others noted that how expenses are assigned can determine if a district reaches the 70 percent threshold.
So where does it go if not into the classroom? Sports, building maintenance, heating and staff development, to name a few non-classroom expenses. But are all those costs outside of the overall educational process?
It can be argued that a sports playing field is a classroom. Lessons learned from the best sports programs include teamwork, discipline, sportmanship and individual accomplishment. The same can be said of other activities that don't fit nicely into a classroom setting, such as co-curricular clubs, public service work and field trips.
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In other words, the classroom is a movable educational feast when good teachers and coaches are at the helm. Pawlenty's 70 percent is an admirable goal, but individual school districts must have the latitude to determine what constitutes the "classroom."
While the governor's goal is right, a state mandate to achieve it would be another erosion of local control. A one-size-fits-all solution would be no solution at all. What works to achieve 70 percent in Edina might not work in Frazee.
But the governor is not proposing a mandate. He's advocating a goal. He would give local districts three years to achieve it. His initiative would even include a waiver for districts that made the case they could not get to 70 percent in three years. Seems fair.
Pawlenty will face a buzzsaw from the education establishment and the teachers' union. What else is new? Those folks constitute the status quo crowd. But certainly most Minnesotans will be somewhat surprised that the majority of school districts don't put at least 70 percent of their dollars into the classroom. If nothing else, the governor's initiative should stimulate parents and other taxpayers to ask questions of local school district officials. Such as: Where's the money going?
Forum editorials represent the opinion of Forum management and the newspaper's Editorial Board.
