As you know, the education budget has worked its way through the Minnesota House and Senate and is currently sitting in conference committee. The Republican majority has created an all-Republican conference committee and in a very unusual move has asked the Governor to come negotiate with them before they have a final bill. The Governor had presented a very different education proposal weeks ago and has said until the majority finishes their work he can’t effectively negotiate with them. I have no idea what will happen next.

I have testified at the House Education Finance hearing on the Education “omnibus” bill, I’ve attended the Parents United for Public Schools education summit and spoken with leaders of the House and Senate there, I spoke at the commissioner’s town hall this week, and I attended a town hall run by my representative. I have been very impressed by how much EMID presence there has been at these events. I’ve seen EMID students testify twice, EMID staff and former staff a number of times, and of course EMID parents (not just me) taking part in these events. We are not being silent.

Unfortunately, I am also not sure we are having much of an impact. The sides seem pretty firmly drawn. The odd thing is that the Education budget is not really at the heart of the tax or no tax battle. In fact, the majority’s bill only cuts education by about $22M which in this environment is pretty much leaving K12 “whole” as they like to say. I appreciate that this demonstrates a commitment to education on the part of the majority. Oddly, though, the bill goes to the trouble to reallocate much of that “whole” in a way that creates very clear winners (rural districts and charter schools get much more funding) and losers (Saint Paul, Minneapolis, and Duluth are cut dramatically). It creates these winners and losers by gutting integration funding, further cutting our already insufficient funding for special education students, and pulling support for desegregation transportation. The cuts to integration and transportation strike at the core of EMID’s funding. Even though EMID is not explicitly shown on any of the legislature’s spreadsheets of impact-per-district, it is clear that the majority bill if passed would present EMID with an extremely challenging future.

On Wednesday I asked the EMID board to provide some data that I could use next week, when a group of parents from EMID and WMEP (our West Metro counterpart) meet with a representative of the Governor’s to discuss the Education budget. I got a briefing yesterday and wanted to share some of that data with you. Please note, I’m an amateur at this, so my presentation may be off base, but it is the situation as I see it.

The current majority budget would probably cut 35% of EMID’s budget, plus a bit. EMID could use the remainder of it’s “savings account” to get through the 2011/2012 year, but would be very hard pressed to get through the 2012/2013 year or beyond. EMID has an annual budget of roughly $12M. About $1.5M of that comes from our own “savings account” (the “fund balance”), $200K comes directly from Federal funds, the rest comes from our member districts. The member districts pass along to EMID about $5.2M of “general education” funds, $1.3M of special education funds, and $3.8M of integration funding. The cuts to all of these funds passed along by the member districts would be the core of the loss to EMID. Note that transportation funds are not included in this calculation and it would probably cost EMID close to $500K to replace transportation if that is killed by the bill.

Another way to look at this is to ask, what would it take to keep EMID going if the budget passed as it is now? It looks to me like EMID could survive it it got $4.3M to replace the funds lost from transportation, integration, and special education.

Advocacy for EMID is a bit scattered, so arguing for this funding will not be easy. Our board is actually not a “school board” but a “joint powers board” that includes representatives from each member school district. Remember that each member of our board actually has a “real job” back in their home district and the budget proposal may look very different from home. In some case, these districts will end up doing better under the new budget than they did under the old (suburban school districts come out slightly ahead, according to the legislative spreadsheets). As one person put it to me, as the water level drops at the watering hole, the animals start eyeing each other differently. We also only have a part time interim superintendent in place at this time. As I said earlier, EMID is being remarkably represented in the various hearings I’ve been a part of, but I fear that we still don’t have a consistent set of talking points or a strong message to carry forward. That comes from leadership and leadership is in short supply in today’s EMID.

So that’s where we stand.

There is a lot you can do to make a difference. Write the Governor. Write the leadership of the House and Senate. Write the Star Tribune and the Pioneer Press. Let them know you care about EMID. Let them know that integration funding has built an incredibly innovative school district with a focus on cultural awareness, arts, and science that serves as a beacon for other districts in the east metro. Let them know why you value EMID and why it deserves the funding to continue its mission. We need every possible hand on deck if we want to see EMID continue in its mission. Please step up.

Check out our Your Voice page for names and addresses. If you do send a letter, consider sharing it with us so we can put it on the website, you might inspire others!