The so called New Minnesota Miracle received its first hearing and let me tell you the DFL and big education spenders are not shying away at throwing more money at education.  The bill - HF0002 proposes to spend 30-40% more on education funding in Minnesota.  Yes, you heard me right - 30-40% more!

Let me share some of the things that the bills author thinks will improve education in Minnesota:

• Triples funding for career and technical programming by raising the allowance from $80 to $240;
• Removes the five-year limit on the number of years that a non-English speaking student qualifies for limited English proficiency revenue;
• Increases the basic LEP revenue from $700 per pupil to 20 percent of the formula allowance ($1,500) per pupil.
• Removes the statewide cap on special education revenue so that each school district’s initial formula amount of special education revenue is fully funded.  (Basically a blank check here)
• Removes the statewide cap on special education excess cost revenue so that each school district’s initial formula amount of special education excess cost revenue is fully funded. (Same blank check).
• Increases the basic formula allowance from $5,124 to $7,500 per pupil unit beginning in fiscal year 2010.  Increases the formula allowance for each subsequent year by the same rate of growth as the growth in the implicit price deflator.  (Education funding put on auto pilot.)
• Grants each district an additional $500 per pupil unit for referendum replacement revenue.
• Establishes a minimum amount of compensatory revenue for each pupil eligible for free or reduced price meals equal to $2,500 per pupil.
• Adds $600 of aid per pupil unit to operating capital revenue for health and safety and deferred maintenance purposes for those districts who are not participating in the alternative facilities program. 
• Adds $50 per pupil unit to operating capital revenue for technology purposes.

You can see more by clicking on the bill link above or the House Research Summary.

So in order to create a new simplified funding structer we need to spend an estimated 30-40% more on education spending?  No.  This bill is not really about new funding formula that is simpler but a plan to throw more money at education and expect the same mediocre results.  There are no new accountability measures.  The simpler formula is supposed to be the selling point.  Simpler means more efficient and savings to taxpayers right?  Nope wrong again.  This bill proposes to increase state funding of K-12 education by a whopping $2.6 billion per year according to the State Department of Education.  This is on top of the $6.9 billion in state funding that is currently spend on K-12 education in Minnesota.

While shopping her budget busting proposal around the State last fall, Rep. Greiling said:  “We have been cutting schools and starving them for over a decade…”  The fact is that K-12 funding has increased by over $3 billion since 1996 an increase of more than 170% with little change in school enrollments, pushing per pupil funding from $5,189 in 1996 to over $8,700 in 2008. 

I have written and demonstrated before questioning are already varacious appetite to keep throwing more money at education.  Fact is that study after study shows there is no direct correlation between education spending and test results or acheivement.  However, Rep. Greiling makes statements like “the economy is doing poorly because we’re not doing well in education,” without one eyota of facts to support it.  This is her opinion it is not fact.  Minnesota’s continues to lose thousands of jobs and it is not as Rep. Greiling contends that we don’t have a well educated workforce.  Every sector is losing jobs, every state is losing jobs and it has nothing to do with K-12 education.  It is the same argument the DFL use in St. Paul - remember the tragic bridge collapse....the DFL claimed it was about funding when in the end it was not!  But guess what they duped the taxpayer into passing a constitutional amendment and then backing that up with a huge $6.6 billion tax increase.  And now apparently that is not even enough for that spending machine.  Spending billions more on K-12 schools will not bring about improved economic growth in our state - all that does is placate a special interest aka the teachers union.  With that said, Rep. Greiling has already stated:  “I think in the end this will get so ugly there will be three Republicans who join the Democrats to approve a tax increase." 

Hold on to your wallets the next fleecing is coming and this is just the start of the session.  Wait until you see the other bills and ideas our tax and spend DFL legislators have in store for you....... stay tuned!

When you see the headlines that the City of Duluth is laying off 200+ workers because of budget concerns you gasp. But you really need to look a little bit farther into the problem as of course the first thing you will hear is the State did not give them more money.

So let’s put it into perspective for you as I am sure the media will not. Last year the city raised the levy by $1.33 million to $13.5 million – 10.75% over the 2007 levy. The Duluth 2008 City Budget was almost $81 million. Duluth received almost $29.1 million in local government aid. This is an increase of $8 million from the $21.1 million received in 2001 or a 37.9% increase. To put that in perspective, Duluth would have received that much alone in just one year from 2001 to 2002 had LGA not come under the scrutiny it deserved.

If you read the budget documents on the City of Duluth’s website you would get the feeling that the entire budget mess they have gotten themselves into is the State of Minnesota’s, because of Governor Pawlenty’s Veto of the Tax bill last year, and because of LGA cuts back at the beginning of the decade. http://www.duluthmn.gov/finance/2008%20Revised%20Web%20Budget.pdf

Duluth has a stagnant or declining population, a political machine that caters to unions, a culture of relying on others to finance its pet projects – all which creates a perceived or real anti-business environment. What’s more – citizen groups that rise to oppose almost any form of development, at least if it's in their neighborhood NIMBY-ism at its finest. A building inspection department which seems to revel in telling people 101 reasons why they can't build their project. Why would you expect any different outcome?

The city of Duluth has inherited its budget mess. Politicians from years past have simply passed along the same old “different day” thinking to the next generation of elected officials who have done the same old thing. Einstein was correct: you cannot solve a problem with the same old thinking that got you there in the first place. To solve the problem we must think and act differently.

But don’t think anything will change. First, we will see the headlines, then as has already occurred reorganization and in the end will anything change? Maybe it is time to look at a regional government, or at competitive bidding for public works within Duluth. Perhaps it is time to overhaul the retiree health care debacle. It is time to truly review the expenses - current and upcoming - and make necessary adjustments – not just cast the blame on others and expect other taxpayers in Minnesota to bail Duluth out. The new mayor Don Ness was part of the Council situation that created this mess to begin with so it is not likely to be solved by the current administration either.

Mr. Ness, in an e- mail written to a concerned citizen dated 2-15-05, outlining his thoughts on LGA, wrote that:

“LGA is a property tax relief program it (sic) is designed to help communities like Duluth keep our property taxes low and competitive. It also allows each community to provide a basic level of services for a reasonable amount of property taxes on local residents.”

Mr. Ness concludes:
“We are all residents of Minnesota whether we live in Edina or Duluth. Edina has many advantages over Duluth in terms of tax base and need for services. Resident (sic) of Edina have huge advantages in paying for local services for this reason. I wish that all MN communities could be like Edina and Eden Prairie – but we cannot. LGA is designed so that we do not punish resident (sic) of our state for living in a high-need, lower tax base community in order to pay for basic needs.”

I suspect it will be like St. Paul and calls for cuts to police and fire to tug on things that are really essential services as an excuse to drive the levy hirer and to push for the DFL in St. Paul at the Legislature to hand them over more of other taxpayers money to address not what is a recent phenomenon but years of uncontrolled spending further complicated by spending that is not accountable through LGA and other government handout programs.

Cutting services or increasing taxes is easy - for awhile – just blame the other guy. But because of lack of fiscal discipline and redefining priorities budgeting goes unnoticed until your checkbook is being drained further. Cities, counties and states must find new ways than to simply spend, spend, spend! For example, Duluth funds retirees' health care. This is honorable, indeed but is almost impractical. Duluth needs to look and make hard decisions and this is one of them. Does the current structure take advantage of other benefits available such as Medicare, or other measures that might sharply reduce Duluth’s costs? Surely, if Duluth asks retirees to use Medicare as their primary source and then provide a supplemental plan to reimburse uncovered expenses, both the retirees and the taxpayers win. Duluth must look at everything to see if they can find similar efficiencies.

Eliminate overtime – According to Duluth’s budget office from January–June overtime totaled $1.118 million.

In a July 24th Wall Street Journal Article, 'States Slammed by Tax Shortfalls' reported - “In Minnesota, the city of Duluth plans to stop operating its Fun Wagon—a free trailer stuffed with games and cookout supplies for a neighborhood party.” Gee - what a tragic loss for the city?

Simply put - Duluth’s problems are not because of the state. Those in Duluth know the about the $300 million unfunded retiree healthcare debt, $30 million for abuse of overtime over the last decade, $22 million and counting for a failed parking ramp, and more than $16 million for an aquarium.

Reinventing itself, creating a family and tax friendly climate and new businesses is a must, not a steady diet of tax and spend, like the past several decades.

Welcome to 40 years of DFL control. No way to blame this on anyone else. Don spent 8 years on the council voting to spend money on every special interest group that came in. Never had to worry about it, it wasn't real money, it was city money and when that ran out cities like Duluth run down to St. Paul, where the adults are, and hold out their hand and ask for more! Now the city employees are once again made out to be the villians in this story. Mayor Don makes 80, plus maxxed out deferred comp and $400 a month for a set of wheels. Let’s start at the top and not the bottom first - what are you giving up to solve this crisis Mayor Don?

Duluth needs to fix its budget shortfall from a public policy perspective. In other words, if Duluth does not structurally fix the budget they will end up having this politically charged discussion during every budget cycle. This will take real political will on the part of the elected officials in Duluth. Once this happens, expect things to change. If it does not happen, we can expect more of the same. Keep in mind you can substitute any city in this argument from Lonsdale, to Minneapolis, to Brainerd, to Red Wing – the arguments and the issues are the same.

If the Duluth City Council can lay blame on their own budget dilemma on the State, or better yet the governor, they can transfer attention away from efforts of designing efficient government in the City of Duluth. There are inefficiencies and fiscal problems in Duluth (as there are in other cities) but Duluth’s leadership would rather blame the governor and legislature. Better to blame someone else than make hard decisions, or to have to look our own sacred cows right in the face.

It’s a bit ironic that some councilors, when it comes to economic development (like attracting employers and employees), opine about appearances of corporate welfare, or taxpayer giveaways. Yet, when it comes to LGA, they have their pockets wide open to accept state subsidies to help pay for their own city’s services, essential and non-essential. Aren’t we, in essence, accepting taxpayer giveaways from somebody in another part of the state when we accept LGA to pay for our own services? Could you perhaps liken LGA to a form of state welfare, paid for by non- local taxpayers to fund Duluth services? These cuts in LGA are forcing city governments to become more accountable, to be fiscally responsible, to discover ways of finding governmental efficiencies, to focus on the funding of “essential” city services and to become more proactive in improving local tax bases. Isn’t that why we elected our leaders in the first place

Let’s face it; we have to run local government’s finances as we do our households. If at home we have a budget shortfall we can't go and confiscate it from the neighbors, we either have to get another job or cut the expenses. The same has to hold true for a city, township, county, school district and the state. You will almost inevitable hear the threats of cuts will be made in police and fire. Why not be honest and do cuts through a freeze on hiring, cut jobs that are duplicated in the city or county or other government organization. Try farming out some of the tasks if it would be less expensive. There are a lot of creative ways of saving money. But that is not how politicians get elected – they get elected on promising to deliver. It is time to get back to core essential services and limited other services!

Remember all those claims how the transportation bill would create jobs.  That a huge bonding bill would have an immediate impact.  Well the reality is that that is all rhetoric to get taxpayers and citizens off track and distracted with the tax and spend philosophy going on in St. Paul. 

"A key by-product of this new law is job creation. In just the last six months of 2007, we lost 23,000 jobs – meaning our job growth was zero for the year. This is the worst job decline since the 2001 recession, and is hurting our families, businesses and state economy. This transportation bill will create 33,000 jobs every year for the next five years for Minnesotans, not just putting people to work, but infusing significant capital into our state economy." Margaret Anderson Kelliher - Speaker of the House

"We came into this session prepared to solve some of the significant issues facing our state – crumbling roads and bridges, a lagging job market, and rising property taxes," said Fritz. "This bill addresses all of those needs. Every person in Minnesota will benefit from safer and less congested roads and bridges and an improved economy."  - State Representative Patti Fritz, Feburary 26, 2008

"Our transportation package, the first significant, comprehensive package in 20 years, will create more than 30,000 jobs in its first year and it also provides new money to expand roads to alleviate congestion and improve safety across the state." Representative David Bly, March 18, 2008

Well maybe they didnt really mean this year.  Like I said rhetoric for deflection and distraction.  Or maybe they didnt know that renewable energy, ethanol mandates, gas taxes, wheelage taxes, registration taxes, sales tax increases, paint tax increases, surcharges on gas and diesel, feed in tariff and all the other costs they propose, consider or pass will have effects on families, taxpayers and businesses in our communities or maybe they dont care?

Tell that to my brother and best friend who are truck drivers and can not afford to come home because of the price of diesel that you just added to with gas taxes.  Less congested roads is because nobody is going to be able to drive, go out to eat, shop or commute thanks to DFL and Democrat policies that are spiking prices on everything from deodrant, food, gas and everything else under the sun.  Not to mention deflating home prices as nobody wants to commute to work any longer which is stalling building and depressing home prices which will lead to increased tax rates at the local level.  Taxpayers, families and businesses are hurting and all we here is that taxing more and spending more is good.  Good for who Representative Fritz, Kelliher, Bly?

Tell that to the marina's that have fewer boaters because of the high fuel costs, tell that to the farmers who may be getting higher feed prices but are having hard time affording the inputs for production so they are at break even in most cases at best.  Tell that to the senior who has to choose between mowing their lawn which now costs almost $10 to fill the gas can or pay for the next trip to the doctor?  Tell that to the family of 4 with two teens who are now not going on vacation because of the increase taxes, energy bills, and cost of living?  Tell that to the GM factory workers in Janesville, Wisconsin and elsewhere who are losing their jobs because your allegience to one special interest is costing them their jobs.Maybe you remember this quote from the middle of this last legislative session from the leader of the Senate who is writing letters patting all the tax and spend liberals on their back for a job well done in supporting big government interests in St. Paul and not the interests in our home districts."I think it's simplistic and naive to say people can spend their money better than the government."

- DFL Senator Larry Pogemiller March 8, 2008

The Democrats think you are not smart enough to handle the money you work so hard for. Show them what YOU think about Democrats when you vote this November and don't let Senator Dahle, Representative Bly, Representative Fritz, Representative Brown and others second guess whose interests are more important in Lonsdale, Belle Plain, Northfield, Faribault, Albert Lea and the surrounding areas.  Senator Dahle is not up for reelection but the entire House is and you can send a message now that YOUR interests are not Senator Pogemiller and the Tax and Spend St. Paul's interests.

Here is the Star Tribune article driving my thoughts for this article........... http://www.startribune.com/business/20563474.html

Minnesota jobless rate hits 17-year high

Minnesota jobless rate hits 17-year highAlthough jobs were added, the state's latest unemployment report shows, in some categories, the worst performance in decades.

By MIKE MEYERS, Star Tribune

The 5.4 percent state unemployment rate, up from 4.8 percent in April, came at a time when six of 11 major industries posted job gains, albeit small advances. In the last recession, in 2001, the state unemployment rate never topped 5 percent.

The number of unemployed across the state rose to 158,404, a peak not seen since 1983. State non-farm employment stood at 2.8 million last month, up 0.3 percent from a year earlier.

In another bleak note, the percentage of working-age Minnesotans with jobs fell to 68.9 percent in May -- the lowest share in 20 years.

"I think the situation here already has touched bottom, but the improvement will be very, very weak," said Eugenio Aleman, senior economist at the Minneapolis office of Wells Fargo & Co.

"The economy is very weak, very close to a recession, although I don't think we're in a recession right now," he said.

Aleman expects the U.S. and Minnesota job markets to improve later this year, but he doesn't foresee a major upswing until 2009.

Oriane Casale, labor market analyst at the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED), offered this perspective: "A 1,700-job increase is kind of a drop in the bucket when you're looking at 11,900 jobs lost the month before."

By May, the state job market had erased all employment growth over the past six months.

"We're back to the number of jobs in November 2007," Casale said.

"I suspect the labor market is getting more and more difficult for job seekers," she added. "Job seekers who rely on a big increase in jobs in the spring are not seeing that seasonal buildup of jobs to the extent we're used to seeing in Minnesota."

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