The school board majority (by one vote) in the St. Louis County Schools will regret their decision to push ahead with a school consolidation one year early to save a couple hundred thousand dollars. They have no further to look to see their future than Duluth where ten to fifteen percent of the students have left the District in recent years because of the Red Plan’s disruption. The families of many state revenue generating students in the St. Louis County schools have alternatives too. When, NOT IF, they pull their children out of the St. Louis County schools the anticipated short term “savings” will evaporate like water thrown on a red hot pan.
As in Duluth this has become a power contest and the majority is not about to concede that they made a mistake in trusting Johnson Controls. This is just one of the dangers the School Board is subjecting the entire district to:
Bruns said the loss of Nett Lake students could have a tremendous impact on the district financially. Between tuition and special education payments through the federal government, she said, the district received $473,000 annually for Bois Forte students attending school in Orr. If even half that amount were lost, she said, any savings from closing the schools would be greatly reduced.
