A meditation – Pt 4

“None of this is new information.” That is the concluding sentence in the columns opening paragraph. It is intended to be dismissive of charges that the Red Plan has hurt programming and caused overcrowding. It is, however, an incomplete list of the means the District has used to finance the Red Plan. In addition to tax increase’s, property sales, and general-fund savings it has been funded by cutting staff and programming. This became necessary when some of the expected “savings” failed to materialize and costs for the Red Plan grew by 56 million dollars.

Duluth is nearing the end of a facilities project that reduced the number of Independent School District 709 regular school buildings in operation from 18 to 13. Those 13 schools were modernized through nine building updates and four newly built schools. Bonds sold for the project are paid for through a combination of a tax increase that began in 2008, property sales and general-fund savings resulting from reducing the number of schools in operation. None of this is new information.

Here are the anticipated savings which were given the Dept. of Education back when the Red Plan was only going to cost 257 million.

I hate to admit that I’ve been using the wrong information for several years but its true. I’ve said for many years that the five million to be saved came in fairly equal measures from energy savings and staff cuts. This list only shows a savings of $833,000 for energy savings which is supposed to come from a “net reduction of 500,000 sq. ft. of unnecessary space…”

How about that “Space?”

Art Johnston who is the target of this column estimated years ago that the changes to the Red Plan left the new school facilities roughly the same size as the old facilities even if they were spread out in fewer buildings. I suspect this is true. Certainly two energy hogs were added when the two new swimming pools were added.

In addition each new and improved school was equipped/saddled with expensive JCI environmental controls. If there have been no energy savings it means that the District must pay the Red Plan bond holders back with other funds to the tune of an additional million dollars each year. To my knowledge there have been no energy audits since JCI’s Red Plan schools have been built. Surely, by now there must be some evidence of the $833,000 in energy reductions which the District claimed. If so I would expect the District to trumpet the savigns and bask in self congratulation. Of course, if JCI’s sorry if not fraudulent overselling of the Duluth Steam Plant energy savings is any indication the Duluth Schools have gotten very little energy savings by closing four schools.

As for the staff reductions outlined for the MDE (Minnesota Dept. of Education) they do not call for cramming more children in classrooms which is what has happened in the ISD 709 schools. Four fewer schools are expected to need fewer janitors, secretaries and principals etc. Furthermore, it was explained that with larger and fewer schools there would be less need for inefficient traveling by staff between schools which eats up productive time with travel.

It appears to me that very little of what was predicted in the original Red Plan has come to pass in terms of savings. If I am right it means that contrary to what Bill Westholm and Ann Wasson have written there is a lot of new information about the Red Plan. The only problem seems to be getting it.

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