Ask David Simonson about the cuts being made to return the Austin Independent School District to financial solvency and listen carefully.

Tuesday, May 02, 2000

Ask David Simonson about the cuts being made to return the Austin Independent School District to financial solvency and listen carefully.

Simonson, long-time Austin Board of Education member and current chairman of the school board, has been through four such spending reduction actions.

He sounds just as weary and frustrated as any school district parent/taxpayer – which he is.

And so are other members of the school board, as well as Dr. James Hess, superintendent of schools.

Families inside as well as outside the public school system will feel the impact of a school district that one- or two-spending cuts ago took the fat off the bone and is now attacking the muscle.

Hess pointed out no single employee group or area of school district programs and services was targeted.

Admittedly, some of the opportunities that have existed have now been reduced, but the overriding factor of the budget reductions was to minimize the impact in any one area.

There will be fallout ahead.

Already, parents of special needs children are worried about the future of that program. And, the same can be said of agriculture education students’ families. There are others, to be sure.

The finger-pointing for blame will continue.

One thing is certain: the district’s mission is to return financial health to No. 492.

As painful as the steps being taken are and frustrating, too, they are necessary steps, according to the district’s officials.

Meanwhile, the Minnesota Legislature should heed the words of Hess.

"Education needs to be viewed as an entitlement; not as a gift," the superintendent said.

All of Minnesota’s struggling school districts are watching the end of the session to see if more financial help is on the way.