I'm not a fan of how former Superintendent Keith Dixon and the Duluth School Board implemented the Red Plan. Nonetheless, one should pay attention to who is behind the latest effort against Independent School District 709 ("2 citizen groups file claim over Red Plan," Oct. 18).
The Duluth Taxpayers Association is presumably an offshoot of the Minnesota Taxpayers Association. This group's support for a February 2004 report ("Determining the Cost of an Adequate Education") suggests it would prefer to limit funding for education.
The Minnesota Voters Alliance, an anti-tax group, lists its advisory board as consisting of a single individual, Mary Kiffmeyer, the former state official who would have liked to institute electronic voting machines that are easily manipulated and have no paper backup. The vice president of the Minnesota Voters Alliance is Steve Townsend of Duluth. Those who witnessed his behavior during the hearings about the closing of Birchwood Elementary (long before the Red Plan) would have little confidence in his judgment.
It is time to focus on students and the classroom, and to stop complaining about what is now a moot point. I urge voters to support the school district's operating levy referendum on Nov. 8. Vote "yes" on each of the three questions. Stop taking out frustrations with the previous administration and help counteract decreased funding from the state. Help reduce class sizes so students can better learn.
Eileen Zeitz Hudelson
Duluth
The writer is a former Duluth School Board member.
