Two extraordinary contracts pushed district’s teacher salaries to among highest in the state
Two unprecedented teachers’ contracts approved by the ISD 2142 school board between 2002 and 2004 pushed salaries for the district’s senior teaching staff to the highest levels in the state of Minnesota, and have played a major role in the district’s dramatic financial slide.
Based on a review of 314 teacher contracts from school districts across Minnesota, ISD 2142’s pay scale for senior teachers puts it among the top 20 districts in the state. On average, a teacher at the top of the pay scale in the St. Louis County Schools earns more than that same instructor in Edina or Wayzata, and much more than that same instructor in places like Rochester, Duluth, or Hermantown. The contract data was provided by the Minnesota School Boards Association, which tracks teacher contract settlements and provides information on individual contracts as well as statewide averages.
When compared with senior teachers working in other small communities in rural Minnesota, the pay gap is especially stark. Among the smallest rural districts, which primarily serve communities of under 1,000 population, the average teacher with a four-year degree earns $41,166 at the top of the salary schedule. That same teacher in ISD 2142 earns $51,752, or 26 percent more. That same small town teacher with a master’s degree tops out at $46,771 on average, while in ISD 2142, it’s $59,488. Actual teacher salaries statewide and in ISD 2142 are higher today than these numbers suggest, since they reflect the 2005-07 teacher contracts. More recent data for ISD 2142 was unavailable from the MSBA.
The remarkable pay gap is only apparent among senior teachers in ISD 2142. Beginning teachers in the district start out in the low to mid-$30,000 range, a rate of pay very comparable to the majority of districts in the state.
Two contracts set the stage
While the district’s financial problems are the result of a number of factors, including declining enrollment and flat state funding levels, no single factor has had as dramatic an impact as two back-to-back teacher’s contracts that pushed pay for senior teachers in ISD 2142 from slightly above the statewide average to near the top. As recently as the 2002-2003 school year, a senior ISD 2142 teacher with a four year degree topped out at $42,174. By the next year, that same teacher’s pay had jumped to $50,234, an astonishing 19 percent increase. Teachers with a master’s degree saw their pay jump from $46,565 in the 1999-01 contract year to $54,387 in the next contract and $58,092 in the following two-year deal. Over a five-year period, pay for senior teachers in ISD 2142 jumped fully 25 percent. Over that same period, pay for senior teachers across the state increased an average of 11.1 percent— or well under half the rate of increase enjoyed by teachers in ISD 2142.
Had the district held the line on pay increases to the statewide average, the district would have saved more than $6,000 annually per senior teacher. Given the number of senior teachers in the district, the financial impact of these two exceptional contracts has been more than $700,000 per year. And since pay increases build cumulatively, the actual financial impact worsens over time. Over the five years since they were approved, these two contracts have cumulatively drained millions of dollars from the district’s general fund balance, forced painful cuts in programming, kept outdated buses on the road, and have now left school closings and major layoffs on the table. District officials now say that without approval of an $80 million capital bond to restructure the district, it likely won’t survive.
A method to the madness?
The first big spike in teacher pay in ISD 2142 occurred in the 2001-03 contract, as an effort by then-Superintendent Don Langan to reward teachers with advanced degrees. “The 2001-03 contract was a radical departure from the 1999-01 contract,” said Langan, noting that the contract eliminated two to three lanes in the salary schedule, through which teachers with only baccalaureate degrees could receive pay increases. “It severely limited the salary amounts for staff in the first ten to fifteen years with only a BA,” said Langan.
Board member Zelda Bruns, who represents the Orr attendance area, and former board member Liz Johnson, who represented Cherry, confirmed Langan’s account of the 2001-03 contract talks.
“If you had reached the top step but not moved past your BA, your salary was frozen,” recalled Bruns, adding that Langan proposed it as an incentive for staff to further their education.
Johnson said she balked at the increase, which she considered too rich for the district. “I thought we shoud have frozen everyone’s pay, including the administrtators,” she said.
While the 2001-03 contract limited increases for some, it provided major salary gains—a total of 17 percent at the top of the scale— for teachers with master’s degrees. It is a type of contract used by a number of districts in the state, particularly wealthier ones, to encourage teachers to further their education and expertise.
But Langan’s initiative was short-lived, in part because teachers at the baccalaureate level complained they had missed out on the pay raises given to those with advanced degrees. As both sides met to iron out the next contract, the talks resulted in a reversal of the contract changes Langan had earlier engineered, which had limited some automatic step and lane increases, while at the same time, boosting pay on the bachelor’s degree side of the salary schedule by an extraordinary 19 percent to allow those teachers to “catch up” with the gains received by those with advanced degrees in 2001-03. At the same time, the contract awarded teachers on the master’s degree side an additional 6.8 percent increase, on top of the 17 percent pay hike in the prior settlement.
But before a final settlement on the 2003-05 contract, Langan was essentially ousted by the board. According to Langan, the final settlement was not his creation, but that’s disputed by board members and former Superintendent Dan Mobilia, who was brought on to finish the teacher negotiations. “When I took over, that contract was already set in stone,” said Mobilia. “We focused on trying to control health care costs at that point,” he said.
Mobilia acknowledged that the sizable back-to-back salary increases put teacher pay in the district “right on the top” compared to other districts in the state. “It got a little bit out of hand. That’s a major part of the problem.”
However the two contracts came about, the cumulative impact sent a teacher’s contract that had consistently paid ISD 2142 teachers about five percent above the statewide average, into the company of the highest-paying districts in the entire state— a development which has clearly contributed to the district’s sudden financial slide.
District officials surprised
District administrators and representatives of the district’s teachers’ union were somewhat surprised at how the district stacks up in terms of salaries. Business Manager Kim Johnson said she has examined the contract information on the MSBA’s website before, but was under the impression that the district’s salaries were more in the middle.
Although Bruns said she was aware that the district paid its teachers well, she did not realize how wide the discrepancy was between ISD 2142 schools and other outstate schools.
That may be because district officials have frequently looked to the Virginia and Hibbing School Districts for comparison. Those two districts are also in the top 20 when it comes to salaries for senior teachers. In fact, Hibbing is in the top ten for pay out of the 314 districts reporting.
Johnson said the high wages in Hibbing and Virginia do put pressure on ISD 2142 to pay more than other parts of the state. “We’ve lost good teachers to Virginia because of it,” she said.
Still, ISD 2142’s base contract now provides higher salaries for senior teachers than any of the other Iron Range districts, including Grand Rapids, Ely, Chisholm, and Eveleth-Gilbert.
And the district’s top teaching salaries are well above other neighboring districts outside the Iron Range. In the South Koochiching-Rainy River district, for example, teacher pay (as of 06-07) topped out at $49,600 with a master’s degree, or $10,248 a year less than in ISD 2142. A Cloquet teacher with a four-year degree topped out at $40,017, or $11,758 less than in ISD 2142.
Dave Fazio, president of Teachers Local 331, noted that teachers in the district had for the most part done without large salary increases. “We’ve had years with freezes or very modest increases,” he said, citing several occasions when teachers accepted increases of less than one percent. But even a zero percent increase can be deceptive because the salary schedule’s built-in lanes and steps provide automatic increases ranging from two to three percent for qualifying teachers.
While Fazio acknowledged that 2142 teachers are paid more than some of their peers at outstate schools such as Littlefork-Big Falls, he said teachers pay at 2142 is comparable to pay at Virginia and Hibbing, districts of similar size to 2142 in terms of enrollment.
District officials point out that salaries are only one part of a teacher’s compensation package, and Johnson said ISD 2142 has avoided some other costs, like retiree health insurance, that have proven to be a major liability for some school districts. And the district’s teachers, in the last contract, did agree to a change in the district’s health care plan, which district officials say is saving hundreds of thousands of dollars a year. That change, however, only came about after more than a year of tough negotiations, during which ISD 2142 was the last district in the state to settle.
Can it be fixed?
Understanding how the district got itself into its current predicament is valuable, but fixing the problem may not be easy. While district officials and school board members have felt the pressure by some in the public on the issue of salaries, they have been reluctant to make the case for concessions. Superintendent Charles Rick has pushed hard to limit pay increases, and pay hikes for teachers in the district have been limited since his hiring four years ago. The district has also trimmed the teaching significantly since Rick’s tenure began.
While the legacy of the 2001-2005 contracts has created major financial challenges, undoing any of the damage would likely be tougher still.
“You are where your are, it’s pretty hard to go back,” said Rick. “For me, I’m just trying to deal with it.”
But other districts have sought and received pay concessions from teachers and support staff. When the Chisholm School District slipped into Statutory Operating Debt several years ago, it turned to teachers for some relief— and teachers agreed to changes that reduced pay and helped Chisholm, in combination with passage of an operating levy, work its way out of financial crisis.
As of the 2006-07 contract year, teachers in Chisholm earned over ten percent less than teachers in ISD 2142, as well as Virginia and Hibbing. Even so, teachers in Chisholm still enjoy salaries significantly above the statewide average for similarly-sized districts.
with a four-year degree earns $41,166 at the top of the salary schedule. That same teacher in ISD 2142 earns $51,752, or 26 percent more.
That same small town teacher with a master’s degree tops out at $46,771 on average, while in ISD 2142, it’s $59,488. Actual teacher salaries statewide and in ISD 2142 are higher today than these numbers suggest, since they reflect the 2006-07 teacher contracts. More recent data for ISD 2142 was unavailable from the MSBA.
The remarkable pay gap is only apparent among senior teachers in ISD 2142. Beginning teachers in the district start out in the low to mid-$30,000 range, a rate of pay very comparable to the majority of districts in the state.
Two contracts
set the stage
While the district’s financial problems are the result of a number of factors, including declining enrollment and flat state funding levels, no single factor has had as dramatic an impact as two back-to-back teachers’ contracts that pushed pay for senior teachers in ISD 2142 from slightly above the statewide average to near the top. As recently as the 2002-2003 school year, a senior ISD 2142 teacher with a four year degree topped out at $42,174. By the next year, that same teacher’s pay had jumped to $50,234, an astonishing 19 percent increase. Teachers with a master’s degree saw their pay jump from $46,565 in the 1999-01 contract year to $54,387 in the next contract and $58,092 in the following two-year deal. Over a five-year period, pay for senior teachers in ISD 2142 jumped fully 25 percent. Over that same period, pay for senior teachers across the state increased an average of 11.1 percent— or well under half the rate of increase enjoyed by teachers in ISD 2142.
Had the district held the line on pay increases to the statewide average, the district would have saved thousands of dollars per teacher. Given the number of teachers in the district, the financial impact of these two exceptional contracts has been at least half a million dollars per year. And since pay increases build cumulatively, the actual financial impact worsens over time. Over the five years since they were approved, these two contracts have cumulatively drained millions of dollars from the district’s general fund balance, forced painful cuts in programming, kept outdated buses on the road, and have now left school closings and major layoffs on the table. District officials now say that without approval of an $80 million capital bond to restructure the district, it likely won’t survive.
A method to
the madness?
The first big spike in teacher pay in ISD 2142 occurred in the 2001-03 contract, as an effort by then-Superintendent Don Langan to reward teachers with advanced degrees.
“The 2001-03 contract was a radical departure from the 1999-01 contract,” said Langan, noting that the contract eliminated two to three lanes in the salary schedule, through which teachers with only baccalaureate degrees could receive pay increases. “It severely limited the salary amounts for staff in the first ten to fifteen years with only a BA,” said Langan.
Board member Zelda Bruns, who represents the Orr attendance area, and former board member Liz Johnson, who represented Cherry, confirmed Langan’s account of the 2001-03 contract talks.
“If you had reached the top step but not moved past your BA, your salary was frozen,” recalled Bruns, adding that Langan proposed it as an incentive for staff to further their education.
Johnson said she balked at the large pay raises that came with the changes in the lanes structure. “I thought we should have frozen everyone’s pay, including the administrtators,” she said.
While the 2001-03 contract limited increases for some, it provided major salary gains—a total of 17 percent at the top of the scale— for teachers with master’s degrees. It is a type of contract used by a number of districts in the state, particularly wealthier ones, to encourage teachers to further their education and expertise.
But Langan’s initiative was short-lived, in part because teachers at the baccalaureate level complained they had missed out on the pay raises given to those with advanced degrees.
As both sides met to iron out the next contract, the talks resulted in a reversal of the contract changes Langan had earlier engineered. At the same time, the contract boosted pay on the bachelor’s degree side of the salary schedule by an extraordinary 19 percent to allow those teachers to “catch up” with the gains received by those with advanced degrees in 2001-03 contract. In addition, the settlement contract awarded teachers on the master’s degree side an additional 6.8 percent increase, on top of the 17 percent pay hike in the prior settlement.
But before a final settlement on the 2003-05 contract, Langan was essentially ousted by the board. According to Langan, the final settlement was not his creation, but that’s disputed by board members and former Superintendent Dan Mobilia, who was brought on to finish the teacher negotiations. “When I took over, that contract was already set in stone,” said Mobilia. “We focused on trying to control health care costs at that point,” he said.
Mobilia said the sizable back-to-back salary increases put teacher pay in the district “right on the top” compared to other districts in the state. “It got a little bit out of hand. That’s a major part of the problem.”
However the two contracts came about, the cumulative impact sent a teachers’ contract that had consistently paid ISD 2142 teachers about five percent above the statewide average, into the company of the highest-paying districts in the entire state— a development which has clearly contributed to the district’s financial slide.
District officials
surprised
District administrators and representatives of the district’s teachers’ union were somewhat surprised at how the district stacks up in terms of salaries. Business Manager Kim Johnson said she has examined the contract information on the MSBA’s website before, but was under the impression that the district’s salaries were more in the middle.
Although Bruns said she was aware that the district paid its teachers well, she did not realize how wide the discrepancy was between ISD 2142 schools and other outstate schools.
That may be because district officials have frequently looked to the Virginia and Hibbing School Districts for comparison. Those two districts are also in the top 20 when it comes to salaries for senior teachers. In fact, Hibbing is in the top ten for pay out of the 314 districts reporting.
Johnson said the high wages in Hibbing and Virginia do put pressure on ISD 2142 to pay more than other parts of the state. “We’ve lost good teachers to Virginia because of it,” she said.
Still, ISD 2142’s base contract now provides higher salaries for senior teachers than any of the other Iron Range districts, including Grand Rapids, Ely, Chisholm, and Eveleth-Gilbert.
And the district’s top teaching salaries are well above other neighboring districts outside the Iron Range. In the South Koochiching-Rainy River district, for example, teacher pay (as of 06-07) topped out at $49,600 with a master’s degree, or $10,248 a year less than in ISD 2142. A Cloquet teacher with a four-year degree topped out at $40,017, or $11,758 less than in ISD 2142.
Dave Fazio, president of Teachers Local 331, noted that teachers in the district had for the most part done without large salary increases. “We’ve had years with freezes or very modest increases,” he said, citing several occasions when teachers accepted increases of less than one percent. But even a zero percent increase can be deceptive because the salary schedule’s built-in lanes and steps provide automatic increases ranging from two to three percent for qualifying teachers.
While Fazio acknowledged that 2142 teachers are paid more than some of their peers at outstate schools such as Littlefork-Big Falls, he said teachers pay at 2142 is comparable to pay at Virginia and Hibbing, districts of similar size to 2142 in terms of enrollment.
District officials point out that salaries are only one part of a teacher’s compensation package, and Johnson said ISD 2142 has avoided some other costs, like retiree health insurance, that have proven to be a major liability for some school districts. And the district’s teachers, in the last contract, did agree to a change in the district’s health care plan, which district officials say is saving hundreds of thousands of dollars a year. That change, however, only came about after more than a year of tough negotiations, during which ISD 2142 was the last district in the state to settle.
Can it be fixed?
Understanding how the district got itself into its current predicament is valuable, but fixing the problem may not be easy. While district officials and school board members have felt the pressure by some in the public on the issue of salaries, they have been reluctant to make the case for concessions. Superintendent Charles Rick has pushed hard to limit pay increases, and pay hikes for teachers in the district have been limited since his hiring four years ago. The district has also trimmed the teaching staff significantly since Rick’s tenure began.
While the legacy of the 2001-2005 contracts has created major financial challenges, undoing any of the damage would likely be tougher still.
“You are where you are, it’s pretty hard to go back,” said Rick. “For me, I’m just trying to deal with it.”
But other districts have sought and received pay concessions from teachers and support staff. When the Chisholm School District slipped into Statutory Operating Debt several years ago, it turned to teachers for some relief— and teachers agreed to changes that reduced pay and helped Chisholm, in combination with passage of an operating levy, work its way out of financial crisis.
As of the 2006-07 contract year, teachers in Chisholm earned over ten percent less than teachers in ISD 2142, as well as Virginia and Hibbing. Even so, teachers in Chisholm still enjoy salaries significantly above the statewide average for similarly-sized districts.
I feel it is important to state that many of these "overpaid" teachers are able to teach college level classes to our students. What this means is that our teachers with Master's Degrees are able to help our students earn college credits without leaving the local school campus. No PSEO, no driving to Hibbing or Virginia for classes, no missing out on their high school years. This also helps our district retain students whose parents are looking to save some money on college (who isn't these days). I don't know of any other district in our area that offers this option to their students. If you look at a typical college level class at one of our local schools, I believe it is 6 college credits. That is about $780 saved by the family. If you consider that there is probably an average of 15 students in that class (far better ratio than at any college, local or otherwise), that is $11,700 saved by the families of all the students. This is just for one class, at one school in our district. Our teachers are saving our families a lot of money each and every day. I support them 100%. No, I am not a teacher, in our district or otherwise. Just a parent in our district. (I used HCC's cost of $129/credit; I didn't have the time to find MRCTC's cost per credit).
I think you need to re read this article. The teachers salary that is being used here is a 4 year bachelor who cannot teach a college level class in your scenerio. I assume that by using the Hibbing comparison you are from Cherry. You are losing nothing with a yes vote. It's a win win for you. Do I think 2142 has awesome teachers???? He'll yes!!!!! Do I feel that even teachers need to be part of the solution??? Once again. He'll yes!!!!!
We all need to make concessions. Don't just point the big finger at other towns while your area makes none!
luv2laf: High school is high school, college is college. It is wonderful that some kids can take college level courses in high school. But does it mean that a teacher with a Masters can't teach the kids unless they make $10,000 more per year than another teacher in the state makes? Who comes first? The teacher's hip pocket or the kid's education? As I stated in an earlier post, two of the best teachers I ever had were fresh out of college. And some of my best college professors had only an MA, not a PHD.
This story only dealt with their pay structure - there benefit package is also unbelievable. I heard that they get a day and a half sick leave per month. I have heard of some of them planning their vacations utilizing sick days. it was also reported by the Cook News Herald that the teacher's that were offered early retirement last spring had a wages and benefit package that cost the district over 100k per year.
I don't know of any other district in our area that offers college credit without having to leave the high school campus. Is that worth $10,000 more a year to me? Yes! Greentea, I tried to find out what the cost per credit was at MRCTC online, but was having difficulty in doing so. Since then, I spoke with a friend of mine whose child has attended MRCTC (last year) and she said that they paid $152/credit. Hmmm... more money saved. This article talks about both Bachelor's Degree and Master's Degree teachers.
I asked a question today. The college classes can be taught by all High School teachers. The teacher follows a syllabus provided by a college professor. The teacher at the High School follows the curiculum of the college professor. In the Tower-Soudan area they work with teachers from Vermilion Community College and those High School teachers do an awesome job. Our teachers are the best, that has never been called into question by my family. The contention for myself and others is that spending millions to force kids in our towns to travel long bus rides on dangerous roads is crazy. I challange the adults from other towns to drive from Tower-Soudan to Babbitt once the snow is on the ground. Then tell me if you would put your child on that bus.
Thank you for asking that question. To me, that shows that our teachers with Master's Degrees AND Bachelor's Degrees are both earning their extra money. Silly me, though. I thought this article was on teacher's pay, not a forum on the Bond Referendum. I apologize to greentea. Apparently some wording in my original posting was misconstrued. I didn't realize that one posting (my first, actually) could polarize someone to the point that they thought I was pointing my finger directly at them (or at anyone for that matter). I had never posted before, yet I somehow offended greentea. Oops. Since you brought up the referendum: Why should we not take up the District's offer of having a charter school in Tower-Soudan? Then we could vote yes, reap the benefits of a remodeled elementary, keep the Tower-Soudan students in Tower and buy us some time to look at other options, such as pairing & sharing with Ely, a consortium of charter schools, etc. In fact, it could be a trial run for the consortium of charter schools.
A charter school is a wonderful option for some students. A charter school was never intended to be the only choice for education. The fact is I did not really care what the teachers salary was until it ended up being part of the downfall of our district. Once the salaries became such a huge drain on the finances it became everyones problem.
The fact is right now every part of the district finances are part of the refferendum. The fact is my kids have lost their ability to be educated in Isd 2142. I now want to work for a solution that includes my areas kids. Where my tax dollars support a school for them. It really should be all kids matter. All areas matter. Find a plan that gives my children a school within 15 miles and I will vote yes. I am asking for the same respect given to all of the other communities.
I have always stated our teachers are some of the best in the district. They are here for the right reasons. I am fighting for my kids just like you are.
According to the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development website, the median elementary teacher's salary in the Arrowhead region for the first quarter of 2009 was $52,171 and the top salaries (the 90th percentile) were $69,273. These numbers exclude special education teachers.
Why the descrepancy in the figures? Where are the top 10% that are making almost $70,000? Your chart does not include those numbers.
According to the same site the highest median wages in the state are in the Central region.
Sorry - I forgot my other point. How many people do you know that take money out of their own pockets to pay for supplies and other things at their work places?
The teachers I know spend hundreds of dollars a year on things for their classrooms - things for health, safety and better learning for their students.
I'm not saying that concessions should not be looked at. Everything is on the table. But it is easy to point fingers when you have not walked in someone else's shoes.
Hmmmmmm,
Teachers do alot more then just buy supplies. Those supplies are tax deductable. The winter jackets and other items they buy for kids who are without those items. What about the lunch hours they spend working with a child who is behind? The fact is teachers work very hard. I have never questioned that. The main feeling I question is how we are not all making concessions. Why are some areas being thrown to the wolves while others are given shelters to protect them from those same wolves?
Why have certain areas taken to having their 8 year olds write letters to the editors to beg to be allowed to graduate from their school while other areas are attacked for asking that they are given a viable education alternative. I think all financial items should be on the table and every area should be asked to make concessions, not just 1.
Vote no. Tower-Soudan kids are important too!!!
In response to the question from Hmmmmm, our story clearly stated that the salary figures reflected the 2005-07 contract year, which was the most updated contract data that included ISD 2142. We stated that salaries have increased since that contract. As we have reported previously in the Timberjay, top salaries in ISD 2142 as a result of their latest contract are in excess of $70,000 today.
In either case, the data on the DEED site is essentially worthless for comparison purposes since it's just a conglomeration of data from an unknown number of school districts. I seriously doubt that every district reports their data to DEED, so without knowing what school districts are included in the averages, the information is of little value. The contract data on the MSBA website is much more useful for comparison purposes, which is why districts routinely use the data for that purpose.
In a Timberjay article by Jodi Summit from 7-4-09, the school board stated they would be willing to cooperate with a charter school in Tower. In the article about the meeting in Tower with the five communities, they stated they wanted to look at other possibilities to the district's current plan, and one of the possibilities is a consortium of charter schools. Seems to me there is some common ground, and the two sides should be able to work together, not fight each other. BTW, I like seeing the young students from all over writing to the papers, no matter where they are from.
For some reason you think the board being willing to cooperate with a charter school will guarantee votes. The fact is while I support a charter school option for those interested it is not the correct educational alternative for my family. Isd 2142 knows that their is no guarantee that the charter school will even be accepted. They also know that a charter school is not accepted by many of the college prep programs.
If Isd 2142 really had been interested in guaranteeing votes in the Tower-Soudan area they would have gone with the option that included a brand new Pre K thru 12 between Tower and Babbitt. The fact was shown very early on that if we had been offered an educational option within 12 to 15 miles they would have had the support needed to pass the referendum in the Tower- Soudan area. We only asked to be given an option that included our children within an acceptable distance. Isd 2142 and Johnson Controls would promise to evaluate our concerns and then would refuse to do so. The facts are if 70% of our students do leave over 1.5 million dollars is lost per year. This is fact. This loss will wipe out the savings touted by Johnson Controls and the Isd 2142 admin and board. The district will have to pay this money out and Virginia, Ely and Mesabi East will reap the rewards of the yes vote. Isd 2142 will have an 80 million dollar white elephant. The facts are there will people look at those facts or continue to live in the wet dream known as plan D.
I choose to Vote No and continue looking at the 5 city plan. It us worth a chance for me. It is worth taking a leap of faith to give my children the chance to keep a school within an acceptable distance.
Vote NO. Tower-Soudan kids are important too!!!!
Buying school supplies? Buying jackets for children? More like buying videos for students to watch vs. actually teaching!
Remember that the board has already agreed to purchase property for 2 1/2 times the market value. Just think of the possibilties that they can mis-manage 78 million. You are acting ignorant if you believe they can manage this project!
In response to luv2laf, I am pleased that the district has voiced willingness to cooperate with a charter school, but as of Dec. 8, there is no guarantee that a charter will be approved or ultimately developed. I'm reasonably confident that it could be, but how can anyone recommend in good conscience that a community bett their future on a big maybe. If the charter doesn't happen, we're out of a school in short order. Nobody seems to believe that the district will run a K-6 here very long. Board members have told us that they didn't think it would last more than a few years. It appears to be a bone to get votes at this point.
A K-6 in Tower has more long-term potential if a charter high school was in place, but that's not the case now and it won't be as of Dec. 8. I've told board members that if they were to run this six months from now, when we should know whether our application is approved, they might find a different outcome in Tower.
That said, I should note that the more I've looked into this plan, the more I realize that it is seriously flawed and poses a real risk to the district's future, not a path to salvation. I'm going to be writing much more on this issue in the Dec. 5 issue of the Timberjay and also online. I would urge everyone to keep an open mind and ask the appropriate questions. We have to remember that almost all of the information regarding this proposal, from financial projections, to enrollment estimates, to construction costs, is coming from one source... Johnson Controls, and they have a massive $14-$16 million stake in the outcome of this vote. There has been so much misinformation and questionable assumptions used by Johnson Controls that it is frightening. I no longer believe this plan will generate a surplus, which means no money for learning enhancements. Only a long term debt obligation for the residents of this district.
I'm puzzled at what I'm reading. A 20 mile bus ride to babbitt is too long and dangerous, but a 15 mile ride to a new school on the same roads is OK. A charter school is being lobbied for, but when its offered it isn't wanted. Am i missing something?
hoodoo1985: I think you are missing something, but I'm not educated in that field of discipline to offer an opinion. I keep reading a 25 mile ride to Babbitt and a charter school is being discussed as a possible alternative. Comprehension skills class may be in order?
Babbitt is a 25 mile bus ride if you drive straight. This ride would also be on roads that are not well maintained and for the most part without cell service in the event of an accident. If you are inferring that we should be happy that Isd 2142 is telling us our kids are unimportant and closing our high school now and our elementary within a few years it won't happen. Without the tax base here there could not be any of the other schools being built. The fact is you will be paying the increase for 20 years and will have no school. The joke is on those who plan to vote yes with their half a cookie metaphor. That cookie will crumble and you will still be paying for a dozen cookies.
Vote NO Tower-Soudan kids are important too!!!!!!
In response to hoodoo1985, the district has not offered a charter school. They have expressed a willingness to cooperate if residents of the Tower-Soudan community are able to receive a charter from the state. The district's cooperation is limited. The board has indicated it will NOT sponsor such a charter school, only rent it space and possibly transport students, for a fee.
The district would not pay for any of this, so it would be inaccurate to say that the district is "offering" a charter school. What they are saying is that if the community goes through a complicated process to obtain a state charter, they won't stand in the way.
That said, people should be aware that the enrollment numbers that the district is using in its financial projections post-new buildings do not account for the loss of students to a charter school. If the school does happen, the district's enrollment estimates are way off. And if that is the case, much of the financial benefit of this $80 million capital plan is seriously diminished. Keep in mind, this plan doesn't raise a dime for the classroom. It can only improve education in the district if it realizes the promised savings... and that is highly doubtful as i will detail in the Dec. 5 edition of the Timberjay.
Posted in the Timberjay on Oct. 30th.
People - "Wake Up"
Look at these values below! If I could get $4100/acre I could think about retiring! At this rate your $78 million should get you about $40 million in product.
Remember - Ms. Hoff works on commission.
The first agreement, approved on 5-2 vote, was to buy about 80 acres from LeRoy Tschida along Highway 53 and about 4.7 miles north of Cook for a new school to serve the district’s northern region. The selling price was $2,300 an acre or roughly $184,000.
According to Hoff, the property was assessed at $1,000 an acre, but land had been going for about $2,100 an acre in the region. An auction of nearby property had been listed at $2,200 an acre, according to Hoff, who said she confirmed the information with Karen Zeisler of the St. Louis County Land Department.
An agreement to buy 26 acres and a house on the property from Jim and Darlene Zywicki for $229,000 passed on a 6-1 vote. According to the St. Louis County’s Assessor’s Office, the market value for the property is listed at $148,600. Taxes payable on the land totaled $1,160 in 2009.
Hoff said, however, the house had been remodeled and a contract for deed for the individual renting the home had been offered at $229,000.
On a 5-2 vote, board members agreed to buy about 43 acres from Jim and Yoi Sowle, of Culver, for $4,100 an acre or about $176,300. The property had been assessed at $1,500 an acre, Hoff said, but property in the area had been selling for as much as $2,200 an acre.
The best written and researched article I've read this year in a small town newspaper.
Kent Laugen
Red Wing, MN