This was mentioned in a DNT story which of course, I only found in the paper delivered to me. It led me to this evaluation of state by state ed funding and this interactive map.
The most heartening map in this series for Minnesota is the one on funding distribution where Minnesota gets and A. In other words our poor districts schools get funding close to equivelent with richer districts. This was first addressed in the early 1970’s in Minnesota in what was then called the “Minnesota Miracle.” The story in the Trib reprinted from the Los Angeles Times mentioned that a lawsuit in Kansas recently resulted in a ruling that Kansas was not giving its poorest districts enough school funding. It was to stave of a similar suit in the 1970’s that the legislature passed the Minnesota Miracle. I’ve commented on this several times in the Blog. It took place when I was in college and in 1971 I wrote a paper about it for my college state and local government class as it was being debated in the legislature. I got an A-. Read it if you like.
Its particularly interesting to me as I’ve been pulling out all the Duluth funding information I can get as I wait to have the Finance office give me additional information in preparation for our ongoing teacher contract negotiations.
