{"id":9386,"date":"2013-08-29T02:34:09","date_gmt":"2013-08-29T07:34:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lincolndemocrat.com\/?p=9386"},"modified":"2017-02-27T06:08:41","modified_gmt":"2017-02-27T11:08:41","slug":"candidates-view-vote-for-martell-and-for-the-levy-referendums-in-duluth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lincolndemocrat.com\/?p=9386","title":{"rendered":"Candidate&#8217;s view: Vote for Martell and for the levy referendums in Duluth"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Today, Thursday, the DNT published my <a href=\"http:\/\/www.duluthnewstribune.com\/event\/article\/id\/276410\/group\/Opinion\/\">opinion piece<\/a>. I&#8217;m quite pleased with it:<\/p>\n<p>On Aug. 19 I read the two most intelligent things about the Duluth schools that I\u2019ve seen in the News Tribune in recent years.<\/p>\n<p>This was from At Large School Board candidate Loren Martell\u2019s commentary on the Opinion page: \u201cWe have to rein in spending now. We have to get to some truth about the financial arrangement we\u2019ve gotten into with the Red Plan. We have to make a sober and accurate assessment and start reprioritizing. Any pennies we can spare have to be directed to the classroom. We have to refocus on the core of education curricula, teachers and teacher development. We have to quit blowing millions on everything else under the sun. We have a half-billion-dollar investment hanging out there. It was a reckless investment, but we\u2019d better roll up our sleeves and make it work.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Then there was the front-page story <!--more-->proving that our new superintendent has paid close attention to Martell and unhappy voters. It opened: \u201cSuperintendent Bill Gronseth is recommending that the Duluth School Board pass up the opportunity to impose a $300 per pupil operating levy on local taxpayers and instead ask voters to approve the levy themselves, risking the loss of additional state aid if voters say no.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>These two men need each other, and Duluth needs these two men sitting on the same side of the microphone.<\/p>\n<p>Gronseth persuaded the School Board to place the fate of Duluth\u2019s schools into the hands of voters, where it should have been from the beginning of the Red Plan. It\u2019s a Hail Mary pass asking angry voters to raise taxes again, but it\u2019s our children\u2019s only hope of rescue from unpardonable 50-student classrooms.<\/p>\n<p>As another At Large candidate for School Board, I recently submitted my own opinion piece to the Opinion page. It was not hopeful, but I sent it before our superintendent and School Board\u2019s magnificent decision.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Red Plan reminds me of a neutron bomb that kills people but keeps buildings intact,\u201d I wrote before withdrawing the op-ed in favor of this one. \u201cWe now have beautiful schools but instead of attracting 500 children from outside to our schools, 10 percent of our students, maybe 15 percent, have fled to other schools. We have about 10 more kids in our classrooms than when I served previously on the School Board. The list of what we\u2019ve given up for these new schools is long and dreary.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere is only one way to save Duluth\u2019s schools before they sink even deeper: Bring class sizes back down to the level they were at before former Superintendent Keith Dixon breezed into town. After the Music Man\u2019s parade, someone always has to sweep up the horse manure. I\u2019ve got a broom.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>All of Duluth must be the broom. If we don\u2019t pass the referendums that have been put in our hands, ghastly as the Red Plan tax increases were, all that spending will have been wasted. Our children will have to keep eating Dixon\u2019s road apples.<\/p>\n<p>We can prove Dixon\u2019s addled supporter who called Red Plan critics \u201cold, cheap and stupid\u201d was a fool. We care about our kids. We care about our schools. We care about the truth. We care about our right to vote.<\/p>\n<p>Our children can\u2019t learn with 50 kids in a classroom. Without this referendum, our schools also will lose a million dollars in state matching money. Our schools will suffer. You don\u2019t want to know how badly.<\/p>\n<p>Loren Martell took up my torch after I put it down in despair. Today he knows more about the finances of our school district than I do. Please vote for Loren Martell. That will leave you with one more vote for another At Large candidate. Cast it wisely.<\/p>\n<p><em>Harry Welty is a candidate for two open At Large seats on the Duluth School Board.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Today, Thursday, the DNT published my opinion piece. I&#8217;m quite pleased with it: On Aug. 19 I read the two most intelligent things about&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[116,17,35,90,80],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lincolndemocrat.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9386"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lincolndemocrat.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lincolndemocrat.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lincolndemocrat.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lincolndemocrat.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9386"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/lincolndemocrat.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9386\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20037,"href":"https:\/\/lincolndemocrat.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9386\/revisions\/20037"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lincolndemocrat.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9386"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lincolndemocrat.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9386"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lincolndemocrat.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9386"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}