Read the screed Here.
• Based on a conservative estimate projecting a loss of 700 students to the charter by 2021-22, Duluth school board members should prepare for larger class sizes, catastrophic cuts and additional school closings in those years.
The DPSA has spoken of around 650 additional high school students so this “conservative” estimate exceeds DPSA’s planning. Then again with the DPSA head of schools moving out of her office to accommodate special needs students perhaps they will fill all sorts of extra students into their new school.
The fear mongering that follows is very troublesome: “Duluth school board members should prepare for larger class sizes, catastrophic cuts and additional school closings in those years.” Ed MN seems clueless about the possibility of negotiating a cap on enrollment. That would eliminate the possibility of “additional school closings.”
As for preparing for catastrophic cuts and larger class sizes that fear has already been addressed by Superintendent Gronseth. In Bullet Point 1 he explains that each student who leaves eliminates our cost of educating the child. Class sizes would stay the same. Of course they are already crowded thanks to the Red Planners but $14.2 million will let us hire additional staff. In one year at $90,000 per teacher that would be 157 teachers. Of course, we would not squander that all in one year and some of it likely would go into our badly depleted surplus fund. But if we did spend it only on teachers then over two years that would be 78 teachers. Spread out over five years it would be 31 saved teachers each year. God forbid the school board would want to keep our teaching staff intact.
