Schools

Part 4: School Board Candidates' Ideas for Cost Savings, Revenues in District 196

Seven candidates are vying for four seats on the Rosemount-Apple Valley-Eagan school district board of education.

Editor's note: This is the fourth piece in a week-long series introducing you to the seven candidates running for four seats on the Rosemount-Apple Valley-Eagan school district board of education. The general election is Nov. 8.

Each day this week, we'll publish all seven candidates' answers to one of the questions we posed. To promote fairness, we asked each candidate to limit responses to 200 words; we reserved the right to edit for clarity and length if necessary.

What opportunities do you see for any future cost savings or additional revenues in the district?

 

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Joel Albright (incumbent)

The board, administration and staff in all our buildings are always looking for cost saving opportunities and initiatives. The Schools for Energy Efficiency program, which has generated over $2 million in energy cost savings over the past four years, is a good example. Cost savings through efficiencies are much better than cutting programs, and we will continue to pursue such opportunities throughout the district.

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Although small revenue raising opportunities, such as advertising in our schools and on our websites, have come before the school board, the ultimate source for significant additional revenues is through action by the state Legislature. Specifically, the state must develop a dedicated and stable source of funding for education and reduce the inequitable and burdensome reliance on local property tax levies. Short-term solutions include re-establishing the statewide general education levy and increasing the local levy equalization factors, both of which will significantly help the students and taxpayers of District 196. The long-term solution is to re-evaluate the entire system of education funding in Minnesota and develop a plan to tie school funding to the actual cost of educating our students. The recommendations of the Governor’s Working Group on School Funding are a good place to start.

 

Steven Butler

As the demographic changes take place in our district, it will be more important than ever to have contemporary leadership on the board to make the necessary decisions to ensure the district has the resources to meet its primary goals.

 

Fay Coggshall

Tough economic times have forced us to continually review cost saving measures. Our school district is doing more with less and we can’t continue to provide a quality education if we must keep cutting back. Of course, we should always be looking at ways to be more efficient in the administration and governance of our schools, but we cannot make cuts that diminish the education of our children. 

 

Rob Duchscher (incumbent)

As for cost savings, we continually look for ways to save money. Whether it is through our energy savings program or one of many other efforts we have going on, we always look to save money. We have consistently been rated as one of the best in the state when it comes to our annual independent financial audit. We have low administration costs compared to other districts in the state. We spend the money on our kids.

When it comes to revenue, my first choice is to always looking for additional revenue options without a tax impact. We have investigated everything from in school advertisement on lockers to web advertising on our district’s website. We are leaving no rock unturned when it comes to finding ways to get revenue without increasing taxes. We also are always working with the state in an effort to get them to understand what it costs to educate our students.

 

Gary Krueger

The district should develop or continue/expand current district/private business/community organization partnerships. Other opportunities may exist to develop cooperative agreements with local units of government for similar services, or utilize state-managed contracts/purchasing services.    There even should be consideration for inter/intra district agreements for similar programs which are offered in each. This may include schools combining some co-curricular activities to ensure they can continue. While booster organizations may need to find ways to raise funds to keep programs, schools need to be as supportive as possible to these volunteer organizations in order that these valuable activities continue.

 

Jackie Magnuson (incumbent)

We have instituted the RTI model (Response to Intervention). The program’s goal is to identify students who struggle, providing them the help they need earlier, with the goal of reducing special education costs.

The shift in the model at the middle school level brings more time on task in the core subjects for students and saved the district over a million dollars.  We will continue to look for ways to enhance our program while bringing about efficiencies.

 

Bob Schutte (incumbent)

Increased use of technology to multiply the effectiveness of excellence in presentation of learning materials to students.

 

Check back Friday to read each candidate's ideas for changing policy, curriculum and programs in District 196.

From Monday:

From Tuesday:

From Wednesday:


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