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Who smothered the Minnesota Miracle — the legendary 1971 agreement between a Republican Legislature and a DFL governor to shift the bulk of K-12 school funding to the state level to provide fairness and stability to the school finance system? There are so many hands on that pillow we're afraid even Sherlock Holmes couldn't secure an indictment and make an arrest.

The state's school finance system, as we have pointed out more than once, is a mess. It's easy to point fingers — it was Gov. Jesse Ventura and the Legislature who assumed responsibility for local school finances again in the late '90s; no, it was Gov. Tim Pawlenty and the Republicans who enforced a no-new-taxes pledge by pushing spending down to the local level; uh-uh, it was free-spending DFLers who refused to recognize economic reality and rein in state expenditures in a recession; please — it was the feds who can't pass up the opportunity to foist unfunded mandates on local schools.

Yup, easy to assign blame. It's infinitely more difficult to arrive at a solution.

A school finance study commission empaneled by Pawlenty in 2004 was on the right track. It set out to figure out how much it would cost per pupil to educate Minnesota students for the 21st century. But the commission stopped short of agreement on that number and how the state's taxpayers ought to go about paying for it. Pawlenty should pull the dusty report off the shelf and charge the commission with finishing its work, no matter how uncomfortable the answers make state leaders.

Until the state faces up to its obligations and answers the tough question — What is a fair, dependable stream of revenue adequate to pay for superior schools? — local districts are left to seek levying authority from local taxpayers to make up for the state's unmet financial commitments.

On Nov. 8, 81 Minnesota school districts — one in four state school systems — will ask voters for authority to levy additional taxes. Seven east metro districts are among them. Make no mistake — these levies are not for extras. They are to pay for the basics: teachers in the classroom, books, natural gas, transportation. We strongly urge voters in these districts to approve the operating levies.

Rosemount-Apple Valley-Eagan Superintendent John Currie, a Minnesota schools veteran who knows his stuff, offers a simple math equation to explain school districts' predicament — 0+0+4+4 does not equal 2+2+2+2. In other words, the 4 percent in additional state funding the Legislature approved for the next two years after two years of no increases does not provide the same funding that a 2 percent increase each of the four years would have. The district will receive an additional $18.1 million in the next biennium. Had the state provided small 2 percent bumps each year from 2004 to 2007, the district would have received an additional $30.3 million.

Strong schools promote strong economies. They increase home values and strengthen communities. Strong schools prepare the workers of the future. Strong schools — among the best in the nation — were the heart of the Minnesota Miracle.

Want that to continue? Then, in the short term, vote yes when your district asks for levy authority. And for the longer term, press the governor and state lawmakers — all of whom want to stay in office and will be up for re-election next year — to figure out what a Minnesota education costs and how to pay for it fairly and consistently.

Local schools have enough to do without having to hustle for dollars every year when budget time comes around.

We urge voters in the following east metro districts to vote yes on Nov. 8:

• Centennial: The district is seeking a $650-per-pupil levy to raise $4.7 million a year for five years.
  
  
• Columbia Heights: The district is seeking an $879-per-pupil levy to raise $3 million a year for 10 years.
  
  
• Forest Lake: The district is seeking an $875-per-pupil levy to raise $8 million a year for five years. The levy would replace an existing $655.01-per-pupil levy that raises $6 million annually.
  
  
• Fridley: The district is seeking a $434.55-per-pupil levy to raise $1.07 million a year for 10 years. It also seeks to renew a $150-per-pupil levy to raise $361,950 annually for 10 years.
  
  
• Hastings: The district is seeking a $500-per-pupil levy to raise $3 million a year for eight years.
  
  
• Rosemount-Apple Valley-Eagan: Voters in ISD 196 will consider three questions. Question 1 would renew an expiring $105.82-per-pupil levy to raise $3.3 million a year for 10 years. Question 2 is a new levy of $430-per-pupil to raise $13.5 million a year for 10 years. Question 3 is an extension of levy authority for $506.57 per pupil, which will raise $15.9 million per year for 10 years. A successful vote on Question 3 would revoke the remaining two years of an existing levy and add a replacement of the same amount for 10 years.
  
  
• St. Anthony-New Brighton: The district is seeking a $1,985-per-pupil levy to raise $1.7 million a year for 10 years. The levy would replace the current $1,536.60-per-pupil levy.

http://www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/news/editorial/13024404.htm