I will encourage the parents who have offered to help replace the tire mulch in Duluth’s school playgrounds to consider a less back breaking alternative. Lobby the State legislature in the next couple months to excuse the Duluth Schools from a law preventing us from using our “capital” reserves for mulch replacement before our playgrounds are considered to be in need of repair.
What will need to be done.
l. We need the help of our area legislators to author a bill that will make this change possible.
2. We will need to send a bus or two full of Duluth parents to lobby legislators for the change.
3. We need both houses to pass the law before this year’s session ends. If its done soon enough the Duluth School Board will be able to act without any threat to classroom spending.
The lobbying could be very effective if we tell each legislator in person these simple points. A. – Such a change in the law will not affect the State’s spending one whit but only the spending of capital funds in the Duluth School Dstrict. B. This is the ultimate example of “local control” and honoring the will of the voters in Duluth. Both of these arguments will be especially effective with Republicans who have taken the majority in both the House and the Senate.
In the face of these arguments the possibility that tire mulch is not toxic will drop away. As long as its Duluth paying for it St. Paul shouldn’t object very much. As for the voters of Duluth. If they are assured that mulch replacement will not put any further strains on our classrooms I think the Duluth School board will be forgiven for showing an “abundance of caution.”
