Superintendent Keith Dixon said it's too early to tell what Gov. Pawlenty's proposal might look like in practice but expressed concern about leaving struggling schools behind.
"I am certainly about accountability and result-oriented schools where all students achieve at high levels, but there are some schools that need additional resources to get there," Dixon said. "I don't see how this proposal addresses that."
Dixon pointed out Ordean, one of four schools in the district that is shy of a three-star rating, as an example of a school that would unfairly be left behind under this proposal.
"As a school, they scored within the top 15 percent for reading and math but failed to meet adequate yearly progress based on special education scores," Dixon said. "That's one of the challenges relative to No Child Left Behind and it seems like another challenge relative to the governor's proposal."
Chris Hazleton, director of Harbor City International, agreed.
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"As a school that achieves and maintains high levels of performance, I'd appreciate the funding but I'm concerned about rewarding high-performing schools without a solid plan to pick up the low-performing schools that really need the extra help," Hazleton said.
He added he would have liked to see the governor address a plan to raise graduation rates across the state.
Dixon said he was unsatisfied with the governor's plan to increase the basic funding formula for K-12 education by only 2 percent.
"The 2 percent on the basic formula simply isn't enough, particularly when Minnesota schools have already gone a decade without funding keeping up with the cost of living," he said.
The Duluth school district tied its recently announced $4.7 million deficit to a 2.5 percent increase in the funding formula.
"We will know more as the days go by," Dixon said. "The Legislature still needs to weigh in on this."
