State Representative
Ray Vandeveer

St. Paul State Representative Ray Vandeveer (R-Forest Lake) met today with Forest Lake Superintendent Lynn Steeblock and school board members, along with members of Minnesota House Leadership to discuss the detrimental impact Governor Jesse Ventura's budget-cutting proposal would have on the Forest Lake schools. Vandeveer, Speaker of the House Steve Sviggum (R-Kenyon), Majority Leader Tim Pawlenty (R-Eagan), and K-12 Education Finance Chair Alice Seagren (R-Bloomington) all assured Superintendent Steenblock and board members Rebecca Otto and Bill Bresin that the governor's proposal is "dead on arrival" in the Minnesota House.

"Last month, Governor Ventura claimed he would unveil a 'no smoke and mirrors' proposal to balancing Minnesota's budget in light of an almost $2 billion projected deficit," said Vandeveer. "But upon closer review, his plan is looking more like a fire in a glass factory, especially when it comes to cuts in K-12 funding."

Forest Lake Superintendent Steenblock presented Vandeveer and the members of the House Leadership in attendance at the meeting with information regarding the $3 million impact the governor's proposal would have on Forest Lake schools. He emphasized that he believes the Forest Lake schools are being unfairly penalized after planning for the upcoming year with all of the information and facts they had available.

Governor Ventura's plan to balance the budget includes cuts in some school aid areas, in turn requiring the Forest Lake school district to bear the burden of about 5.6% of the proposed statewide cuts in edcuation. This would be a different story if every school district was facing similar cuts, but of the hundreds of school districts in Minnesota, Forest Lake stands to lose the second largest dollar amount ($3 million) in state education dollars should the governor's proposal be passed. Minneapolis would lose the largest amount (about $5 million), but in comparison, that district has six times as many students as Forest Lake.

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"We have a constitutional responsibility to balance the budget for this biennium and believe that can be accomplished without increasing the burden on taxpayers or cutting their top priorities of local classrooms and nursing homes," said Speaker Sviggum. "We don't want individual school districts and local classrooms to see this kind of huge impact."

"Balancing the state budget is not about pain, it's about acting responsibly," said Majority Leader Pawlenty. "It's hard to see how this kind of impact for one school district is acting responsibly, particularly for the students of Forest Lake."

Noting that House Republicans have not yet unveiled a plan for balancing the budget but will do so tomorrow, House K-12 Finance Chair, Alice Seagren noted that her goal is to avoid hurting our classrooms while preserving important accountability measures that were passed into law last year.

If you have any questions on this issue or others, please feel free to call Representative Vandeveer's office at 651-296-4124 or write to State Representative Ray Vandeveer, 529 State Office Building, 100 Constitution Avenue, St. Paul, MN 55155. And, if you would like to receive periodic e-mail updates about activities at the Capitol from Representative Vandeveer, you may sign up at his official House webpage (www.house.mn/51B).

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The text of this news column, along with a headshot of Representative Vandeveer are available at www.house.mn/51B or by contacting Jessie Roos at 651-296-9719.