Home
Archive | August, 2012
leidiger cropped

It Might Get Loud: Ernie Leidiger attends a voter ID forum at a senior housing facility [UPDATED]

August 30, 2012 by seanolsen 156 Comments

Last week, the Eastern Carver County League of Women Voters held a forum on the Voter ID constitutional amendment at a senior housing facility in Waconia.  The Chanhassen Villager details what happened when State Rep. Ernie Leidiger decided to drop in on the event.

“He was loud, boisterous, argumentative and bullying,” said Glenda Noble, an LWV member who helped arrange the presentation. “His manner and tone was not appropriate. We were guests in a facility that houses older people. The public is welcome, but we expect them to behave.”

For his part, Leidiger doesn’t even really dispute the description of his behavior.

Leidiger, however, said he was just being “loud” and the LWV should be held accountable for the information presented.

And for good measure, he added, the LWV are “pathetic partisan hacks”.  The full LWV response (in the form of a letter to the editor) is here.

The best response for this sort of behavior by an elected official was provided by the conservative blogger over at the Carver County Current:  WTF, Ernie?!

Reasonable people can have different opinions about this constitutional amendment.  When you’re an elected official, though, you need to demonstrate some decorum and understand that you’re going to have sometimes deal with folks who don’t agree with you.

(It’s no wonder, with this sort of attitude and behavior, that Leidiger was one of the least productive members of the GOP majority in the House last legislative session.  Of the 31 GOP freshmen, Leidiger was 29th in bills chief authored and tied for 22nd in bills signed into law — with 1.  Building relationships is critical to your success in the chamber, and going around acting like a bully in a senior citizens home isn’t going to make you any friends.)

The LWV will be having another Voter ID presentation at 6:15 p.m. on Tuesday, September 11 at the Chanhassen Library.  If Rep. Leidiger chooses to attend that meeting, he should turn the volume down and act like an adult.

[UPDATE]:  Check out our complete archive of Ernie Leidiger coverage.

[UPDATE #2, 8/31]:  Leidiger has released a statement regarding the incident.  It reads:

The League of Woman Voters must think that Minnesota Nice means you have to swallow anything they spew out including lies, misinformation, and fear-mongering, without anyone questioning their facts or motives. They want you to wear gray, fall in line, and only believe their point of view after they scare you. This is also behavior true of those in the progressive movement in the Democrat Party. So when someone questions them and they don’t like it, then their response is … well, he’s a bully! If standing up for truth means being labeled a bully by this organization, then it’s time they are exposed for who they really are, a left wing, progressive lap-dog group that has lost all credibility. How pathetic, they stoop to such disgusting behavior, blatantly spreading fear in our elderly population in these meetings, using propaganda created by the biased Brennen Law Center.

I’m responding to the League’s letter about me challenging them on their stance on the voter ID amendment at a recent public meeting at an assisted living facility in Waconia. I attended and what I heard was astounding. The League wasn’t there providing information, they were conducting a take-no-prisoners, frontal assault on their audience using propaganda and fear tactics on the elderly to shut down the amendment.

The main speaker was from Minneapolis not a local League member. Her slick speech and video was fear-mongering, distortions, and made up scenarios designed to frighten people to vote against the amendment. The League is out trying to defeat it at all costs. One really has to wonder why they are so adamantly against verification, why anyone could be against it. I often think that maybe fraud is worse than any of us ever imagined. Why else do progressives fight such a common sense initiative which is passing everywhere across the nation with excellent results. Why is the League silent about views from those in favor of the amendment. Why do they refuse to acknowledge the origins of the initiative, the bi-partisan Help America Vote Act (HAVA) of 2002, and the subsequent Jimmy Carter/Howard Baker Commission results of 2005 which fully recommended voter ID verification. Instead, the League supported Mark Ritchie and the Democrats to throw out the amendment or change the title on the ballot to confuse voters. Thankfully, the Minnesota Supreme Court struck down the overt and highly illegal attempt of the Democrat Administration to confuse the voters by changing language of the amendment.

The League is against the amendment. They are wrong. Minnesotans will vote yes on the amendment this November and integrity will be restored in our voting system.

 

2012 Election, Legislative Watch, State Legislature
, , , , ,
romney money shot

Mitt Romney spouts pseudo-business nonsense

August 28, 2012 by seanolsen 36 Comments

Over at Slate, Eliot Spitzer points out a couple of disturbing notions that Mitt Romney has trotted out in recent interviews.  At one time, Romney was a very competent businessman.  If this is what he truly believes nowadays, though, he would be a spectacularly bad President.

Point 1:  Romney says he’s going to “treat his Cabinet like a Board of Directors“

As Spitzer points out, Cabinet secretaries have radically different roles than directors.  The Board of Directors of a large corporation is generally made up primarily of outsiders — people who don’t work in the day-to-day operations of the firm.  Instead, on a part-time basis, they provide oversight to the CEO and senior managers.  They review the strategic direction of the company, approve executive compensation, and if the company is underperforming, they have the power to remove the CEO and hire a replacement.  Cabinet secretaries, on the other hand, are the day-to-day managers of the operations of the executive branch.  They take their marching orders from the President, and they are responsible for the details.

Point 2:  Romney would spend at least 4% of GDP on defense

By all measures, defense spending has been substantially increased since 9/11.  The 2013 defense budget is 35% larger it was in 2001.  Romney’s promise would grow defense spending by 87% over the next decade, despite the fact that we have pulled out of Iraq and are slowly winding down operations in Afghanistan.

But even more than that, one has to wonder what the substantive linkage between GDP and defense spending is?  Shouldn’t our level of defense spending be based on an assessment of what our defense needs are?  Arbitrarily tying military spending to the economy — particularly at the levels proposed by Romney — is a recipe for waste and grift.  Is there anyone out there who really thinks we need to nearly double our defense expenditures?

So why is Romney making these sorts of proposals — that defy any rational look at the issue?  One can only wonder, but unfortunately, such efforts to cloak dubious policies in the language of business by people who are better than talking about business than actually engaging in it are not uncommon from today’s GOP.

There’s ways that make sense to bring the principles of business into the workings of government — tenets of program and project management, for instance.  Applying rigorous measurements and scoring to determine the effectiveness of programs is another way.  But when politicians cloak half-baked policy ideas in business-speak, it degrades the very real expertise and knowledge that business leaders can bring to the political process.  If I tried to run these sorts of nonsensical ideas past my boss, I’d get shut down in a hurry and told not to come back until things had been completely reworked.  We should tell Romney and the GOP the very same thing.

2012 Election, Legislative Watch, National, State Legislature
, , , , , ,
cityhall

Word games local politicians play to avoid responsibility for raising taxes

August 24, 2012 by seanolsen 2 Comments

We’re entering budget season for counties and cities.  In the next three weeks, these local governmental entities will be setting their preliminary property tax levies for 2013.  The preliminary levy is the highest amount of taxes that the city or county can collect for 2013 — they do have the option of collecting less than that amount when they approve the final levy in early December.

Local units of government take great pride in announcing that they aren’t raising your taxes — they pretty much seem to make that announcement every year, in fact.  How is this possible?  Can it be true?  As you might suspect, the answer here is “not exactly”.  Let’s take a step back and see how this works.

The basic tax calculation for an individual property is pretty simple:  the value of the property multiplied by the tax rate (also called a mill rate). Since the local unit of government has to levy a specific dollar amount for their entire community, though, there’s two ways they can go about the process of determining that final number — they can either go based on the total levy amount and work back into the mill rate or they can start with the mill rate and work up to the number they need.  In reality, local governments combine the two methods to get to a final answer.

Let’s take a look at what happens here.  Here’s a community of 10 houses.  We’ll call this community “Sampleville”.  The 10 homes in Sampleville have a collective value of $3 million, and pay a combined $6,000 in property taxes based on a mill rate of 0.2%. (For wonks out there:  this is going to be a really simplified example.)

What happens in Year 2?  Let’s look at an example of what many cities and counties are experiencing today — declines in property values.  Let’s assume a 10% reduction in property values, and let’s also say that an 11th home is built in the community.  Since times are hard, this home has a less than average value of $150,000.  If the mill rate stays the same, Sampleville generates $300 fewer property tax dollars, even with the addition of the new house.

The Sampleville City Council has some decisions to make at this point.  They can choose to keep the mill rate the same and cut their budget by 5%.  Or they can do what many local government units have done — keep their overall levy amount the same.  After all, Sampleville largely has to provide the same services in Year 2 as they did in Year 1.  They may even have to provide more of some services as there are now more people living in the community.  Under this scenario, Sampleville has to raise the mill rate to make up the difference.  They only have to raise the rate by 5.26%, because of the new house being added to tax base, though.

Even though the mill rate has increased, the Sampleville City Council goes back to its residents and says:  ”No tax increase!”  Why? They will say it is because they left the overall tax levy the same — and all residents who were here in Year 1 will pay less in property taxes in Year 2 than they did in Year 1.  (Never mind that they are taking a larger percentage of your property value in Year 2 than they did in Year 1.)

But what if Year 2 is a good economic year?  If property values grow by 10% instead of shrink by 10%, we see a different story.

If no changes are made to the mill rate, tax collections go up by $900.  What does the Sampleville City Council (and most units of local government) do under these situations?  Go back to their residents and say:  ”No tax increase!” (and  start planning things to do with the additional $900).  Why?  Because they left your mill rate alone.  The Council will tell you that the reason your taxes went up is a result of your property value increasing, not an active decision by government.

You may have realized at this point that the Sampleville City Council is changing the rules of the game midstream here.  You may also be realizing that many local units of government in Carver County (and across the state) operate the same way.  If you change the standard by which you declare a “tax increase”, it’s pretty easy to make it look like you’re not increasing taxes.

This isn’t meant as some sort of anti-tax screed.  In times like we are in today, decisions to keep local levies flat by raising the mill rate can frequently be justified.  But we have to be fair and call a spade a spade.  If keeping the mill rate flat during good times and collecting the additional revenue from increase property values isn’t a tax increase, then raising the mill rate during bad times to make up for declining property values is a tax increase.  Period.  We should expect our local government officials to not try to muddy the waters on this point.

2012 Election, Carver County, Chaska, City Administrator, City Council, Economy, Mayor, Taxes
, , , , ,
112

District 112 decides not to pursue referendums in November

August 23, 2012 by seanolsen 2 Comments

This week’s edition of the Chaska Herald chronicles the decision of the Eastern Carver County School District not to place a referendum on the November ballot.

There was the potential for two questions to appear on the ballot.  The first was a renewal of existing operating levies that expire at the end of the 2013-14 school year.  These levies, which represent nearly 10% of the district’s annual operating budget, will certainly be placed on the ballot next year.  The District is still trying to determine whether or not to ask for what they call a “cost of living adjustment” on the operating levy, slightly increasing the per-pupil amount to adjust for inflation over the 10-year life of the levy.

The second potential question was a technology levy.  Last fall, voters rejected a $2 million annual package designed to upgrade the district’s technology infrastructure, replace aging equipment, and implement new technology-based learning programs.  For several months, District administration and the School Board have been kicking around two versions of a new technology plan — one costing $5 million annually and one costing $2 million annually — which they would seek funds via referendum to fund.  The Herald story on the discussion surrounding putting this issue on the ballot revealed two encouraging points.

1. ) The District takes seriously the amount of educating that needs to be done if a technology bond issue is going to pass.

Despite the good efforts of the Vote Yes! committee, the District didn’t give them a great hand to work with.  The District was slow to make available information that was easy for voters to digest.  That delay in getting information out allowed referendum opponents to frame the debate in their terms and left the District administration and committee to answer for decisions made years earlier.

The other thing that’s important to realize here is that it important to have a real discussion of how technology enhances learning.  The generation who are parents now didn’t grow up (by and large) with schools wired to the internet, electronic whiteboards, or tablet computers.  Parents today have also likely seen technology projects  in their work or personal lives that were supposed to deliver great result that just ended up being sorta “cool” but not making any real impact.

The idea that the District is going to put together demonstration labs of this new technology is encouraging.  First, it will give District personnel real-time opportunities to try these technologies out and see in fact how they impact student learning.  Second, it will give them the ability to demonstrate this impact to voters in the District so they can see how it improves the classroom experience.

2.) The District is reconsidering the idea of providing devices to all students at a certain grade level.

This is a real point of contention with many parents in the District, and not just ones who are politically predisposed to be against any sort of tax increase.  Parents are uncomfortable with this on many levels, and in my opinion, this just isn’t the time to go down this route.

The District should instead focus on making it easier for students to use their own devices in the school environment as well as increasing availability of devices for students who don’t have computer resources at home — whether it is expanded computer lab hours after school or on weekends or lending out devices to students as needed for projects.

One other key takeaway from the article:  We see again in this story the struggles that our school districts are going through in dealing with legislative uncertainty.  If we want our school districts to be good stewards of taxpayer money, then legislators in St. Paul and the Governor need to stop using K-12 education as their piggy bank when the state budget needs to be balanced.

2012 Election, Carver County, Chaska, Legislative Watch, Schools, State Legislature, Taxes
, , , , ,
Rep. Ernie Leidiger

Hypocrisy, eviction, lawsuits and porn: what does the business career of Rep. Ernie Leidiger mean?

August 16, 2012 by seanolsen 53 Comments

Government is the problem, not the solution.  – Ernie Leidiger, Chaska Herald, 2010

One of the consistent building blocks of State Rep. Ernie Leidiger’s political ideology has been his call that government (at the federal and state level) needs to get out of the private sector’s way, cut spending, and let the “job creators” do their work.

How has that ideology played out in Leidiger’s life and business career?

Rep. Leidiger hasn’t been the most ardent supporter of public education in his career in the legislature.  Leidiger has voted against the last two bonding bills in the State House, both of which had vital projects in both the MnSCU and University of Minnesota systems.  He also flip-flopped on a campaign promise and voted in favor of shifting $700 million away from our K-12 schools.  Leidiger, it should be pointed out, graduated from the most public of public schools — the U.S. Naval Academy and U.S. Naval War College — with all tuition expense paid by taxpayers.

Rep. Leidiger often trumpets his private sector experience as the head of Brothers Office Furniture.  In fact, Leidiger has a number of business entities registered with the state of Minnesota, most of which lead back to a company called Jelco Parts, Inc. — these include Brothers Liquidation, Brothers Office Installers, Brothers Office Parts, Brothers Office Services, BroBid.com, and Brothers Recycling.  Brothers Office Furniture and Brothers Office LLC are registered under Leidiger’s business associate Mike Soderquist at the same address as the other Brothers businesses.  Then, there’s Brothers Liquidation & Recycling LLC, registered at the same address as Brothers Office Furniture, but with no listed contact.

Leidiger and Soderquist are also involved in a venture called SJK International, a nonprofit that works to bring foreign students to the United States to work on J-1 visas.  J-1 visas were originally designed for cultural exchange, but have come under fire for increasingly being used by employers as a cheap way to supplement their workforces or worse. [EDIT:  Let me make it perfectly clear that I have no knowledge of SJK International being involved with such abuse.]

The extent to which Leidiger wants to be known as being associated with his businesses seems to vary, as well.  His original economic disclosure form didn’t include Brothers, then was amended during the 2011 session to include it, and the most recent revision excludes it.  In fact, his July 2012 economic disclosure form shows no sources of income for Leidiger outside of his position in the legislature, despite the long list of companies he has registered.

Leidiger’s business receives federal stimulus dollars

Setting the conditions for private sector growth and reducing government spending is the answer to economic stimulus. One only needs to see what has happened to the failure of the federal stimulus plan to realize that more government spending is not the answer.  - State Rep. Ernie Leidiger, “News and Views“, February 2012

According to Leidiger, the federal stimulus plan was a failure and claims that more government spending is not the answer.  It’s an interesting perspective, given that Jelco Parts, Inc. received a $500,000 Patriot Express loan from the Small Business Administation in July 2009 as part of the federal stimulus plan.

While the Patriot Express program began before the stimulus plan, under the stimulus bill several key changes were made to the program.  First, the SBA guarantee on loans like Leidiger’s increased from 75% to 90% and eliminated the 3% fee on the guaranteed portion of the loan.  On A $500,000 loan, that’s a savings of $13,500.

So the taxpayer — you — paid the fees to originate Leidiger’s loan.  And if Leidiger’s business fails, the taxpayer — you — are on the hook to help cover his losses.

SBA loans, with their guarantees, are also only available to applicants who can’t get funding on their own through normal financing methods.  So in Rep. Ernie Leidiger’s “government spending is not the answer” world, the market would have spoken and his business would go without that additional capital.  Businessman Ernie Leidiger was happy to take the federal-backed funding and run with it.

Eviction, lawsuits, and pornography

Ernie knows what it’s like to make payroll and how to keep a concern running … these days what works is running lean, being nimble, and stay true to your business.  – Ernie Leidiger 2010 campaign website

How have Leidiger’s companies failed since the infusion of government money? Not so great, really.

Former employees tell stories of a mismanaged operation with internal strife and unhappy customers.  Brothers Office Furniture and Brothers Liquidation both carry “F” ratings from the Better Business Bureau as testament to those assertions.

Jelco Parts (and Leidiger’s other businesses) were evicted (Case 27-CV-HC-10-4859) from their Brooklyn Park offices in August 2010, just 13 months after receiving that guaranteed government loan.  Since then, the businesses have relocated to north Minneapolis.  The registration of the Brothers Office Furniture business under Soderquist comes at a timeframe concurrent with the legal dispute with their landlord in the eviction process.

Two corporations — the original Brothers Office Furniture and Brothers Office Corporation — that rolled up to Jelco Parts were discontinued around this time.  It appears Leidiger and his associates were trying to disassociate the two businesses.  Why would you need to do such a thing?

Experts consulted indicate that this may be a strategy to protect the assets of Brothers Office Furniture should Jelco Parts default on its SBA loan, as that company’s assets would be at risk to cover the portion of the loan that was not guaranteed if the two organizations were still legally bound together.  This may also explain why Leidiger’s residence in Mayer is registered under the name of his wife Jan, and sister-in-law Linda – as Leidiger’s personal assets could also be at risk if Jelco Parts defaulted.

Meanwhile, Brothers Office Furniture lost a lawsuit and was ordered to pay $7,500 in damages in April 2011 and still hasn’t paid up (Case 27-CV-11-11245).  Per state law, such judgments are supposed to paid within 30 days.  The plaintiff in this case has had to go to court to get a writ of execution in an attempt to collect from Leidiger’s company — as of yet, unsuccessfully, as the judgment is still listed as active in the state court system.

And, that’s not the only lawsuit the Leidiger businesses have endured recently.  Judgments against Brothers Recycling & Liquidation ($32,389,90 from May 2011, also resulting in a writ of execution, Case 73-CV-11-4601) and Brothers Office Furniture & Liquidation ($1,415.28 from November 2011, Case 27-CV-12-3581) are also unpaid at this time.  Total it up and you’ve got over $40,000 in unpaid legal judgments against the Brothers family of businesses.

That’s not to say, though, that there haven’t been some high points.  Although Rep. Ernie Leidiger is a noted supporter of “traditional family values”, Brothers Liquidation did have a major sale last year —  selling off the inventory of the Shinders bookstore chain, which included 20,000 X-rated magazines (all of which I’m sure were the “traditional family values” kind of pornography).

Pulling up the ladder

So what does this all mean?  Some people who read this will no doubt be concerned about some of the specifics listed above.  And while there are certainly things to be troubled about there, I think the most important lesson to learn from this comes not from focusing on any individual event, but about what the totality of this record means in context with the political positions that Leidiger advocates for.

While Rep. Ernie Leidiger voices opposition to many forms of government spending and votes against bills that would create jobs, businessman Ernie Leidiger happily collects government-guaranteed loans originated with no fees.  Rep. Ernie Leidiger supports traditional family values, while businessman Ernie Leidiger sells pornography.

(And let’s not forget about Rep. Leidiger’s creative interpretations of campaign finance law that violated two state statutes and generated $800 in civil penalties or his embrace of radical preachers who espouse hateful agendas.)

This is not to suggest that the programs that Leidiger has benefited from are bad programs, or that Leidiger’s military service wasn’t noble.  To the contrary, the programs in question are good programs and should be continued and Leidiger’s Naval career is honorable.

And I’m not going to deride Leidiger’s entrepreneurial spirit.  It’s great that we have people like Leidiger who are willing to take risks and start businesses.  We need more of them.  But, Leidiger’s policies and positions don’t reflect the reality of his own life.

Leidiger says “government is the problem” — yet, government has been there at nearly every step of the way in his adult life.  He served in the Navy and got two taxpayer-funded degrees.  His business is supported by a $500,000 SBA loan — guaranteed by the federal government and originated with fees paid by the taxpayer.  His business has had over $16,000 in state contracts since 2008.  He is the recipient of numerous government benefit programs due to his military service and his position as a state legislator.

Would Ernie Leidiger have the same level of achievement today without the products of government to help him on the way?  It’s impossible to say, but the journey certainly would have been more difficult.  And now that he’s made it, Ernie Leidiger has set out to undo the sorts of programs that allow people to have the same journey he has had.  He’s pulling up the ladder, leaving future generations (and those pushed to the sidelines by our current economic woes) to fend for themselves.  That’s what concerns me the most here.

This is exactly the kind of “leadership” that we don’t need.  Being ignorant of your past and our present is no way to point this state towards the future.

[UPDATE]:  More problems for Leidiger here.

2012 Election, Carver County, Legislative Watch, State Legislature
, , , , , , , , , , ,
112

Why are so many students open enrolling out of District 112?

August 6, 2012 by seanolsen 10 Comments

Minnesota was one of the pioneering states in public school choice, with open enrollment — allowing parents to enroll their children in any public school district in the state — beginning in the 1990-91 school year.  A few year later, Minnesota instituted  charter schools, further increasing public school choice options for parents.

As such, school districts found themselves competing for students.  And while much of the attention about open enrollment has been centered on its impact on athletics, it’s important to look at the other impacts of open enrollment on the schools in the Eastern Carver County School District (District 112).

The most recent numbers available cover the 2010-11 school year, and they show that District 112 lost a net of 783 students (about 8% of base enrollment, or about two sections per grade level) to open enrollment and charter school options.

Over half of the total loss of students went to the Minnetonka school district (409 students net), while there was a 109 net student loss to the Eden Prairie school district.  An additional 264 students opted to attend five prominent charter schools.  These options in total essentially represent the entire gap — all the other school districts and charter options net out to a total loss of one student.  District 112 did have positive net balances with some area districts — Central, where 112 gained a net 27 students, as well as Belle Plaine (+22), Shakopee (+20), and Waconia (+19).

Why are so many students opting out of District 112?  Well, looking at open enrollment in general — districts that tend to gain students on net tend to have the following characteristics:  higher test scores, higher per-pupil spending, higher enrollments, and lower percentages of low-income students and minorities.

Do those factors explain what’s going on in our district — specifically, in comparison to Minnetonka and Eden Prairie?

It is true that Minnetonka and Eden Prairie have produced higher test scores in recent years than District 112.  Minnetonka, over the last three years, has achieved average math proficiency (across all grades tested) 12 points higher than District 112 and reading proficiency seven points higher than District 112.  Eden Prairie also outperforms District 112 slightly (four points favorable in reading and two points favorable in math).

Per pupil operational spending is higher in Minnetonka (about $800 per pupil) and Eden Prairie (about $400) as well.  Enrollments between the three districts are roughly equal.  There are some significant demographic distinctions between the three districts.  Minnetonka is less diverse (five percent fewer minorities than District 112 and 16 percent fewer than Eden Prairie) and wealthier (eight percent of students of free or reduced price lunches compared to 18% in District 112 and 19% in Eden Prairie).

Are there other specific factors that could be at play here?  Definitely.

First, migration to Minnetonka schools can be more natural for Chanhassen residents.  Already, part of the city is part of that district and many of the district’s schools are in close proximity to the city limits and are near major highways (MN-7 and MN-62).  Open enrollment is far more prevalent in cases where good options are nearby.  It’s worthwhile to note that few students are making across-town journeys to attend school.

Second, Minnetonka and Eden Prairie schools have worked hard to develop unique offerings that appeal to certain constituencies.  Minnetonka has established Chinese and Spanish immersion programs that involve children from kindergarten through middle school, as well as a strong gifted and talented program and an international baccalaureate program at the high school level.  Similarly, Eden Prairie has Spanish immersion and were early adopters of gifted and talented programs nearly 40 years ago.

What must our district do to reverse some of these trends?  For starters, keep a continued focus on improving academic performance.  Closing performance gaps between the two high schools is a major factor here, as the perception of a large academic gap between the two schools drives parents to take their children to another district.

Next, stay committed to new programs.  District 112 is starting a Spanish immersion program for kindergarten and first-grade students this fall.  This program should be expanded and enhanced as the children grow so that it fully functions all the way to the middle school level.  At the high school level, the Integrated Arts Academy debuts this fall as well — providing specialized classes in visual, horticultural, and culinary arts in addition to the normal high school curriculum.  We should evaluate these programs and work to create other new programs if successful — Chinese immersion or a science and technology focused middle or high-school program might be places to look next.

Finally, as a community, we’re going to need to have a discussion on what we do now that our district is transitioning out of a period of rapid growth and into a more stable enrollment period.  Over the next few years, the debt service portion of your property tax bill will begin to decline, as the bonds used to construct schools over the last two decades begin to be paid off.  Will we do what districts like Minnetonka and Eden Prairie did, and re-invest some of that money by increasing the operating levy?

Carver County, Chaska, Schools
, , , , , ,
112

Chaska-Chanhassen HS math test score gap narrows again

August 2, 2012 by seanolsen 0 Comments

Standardized test results from the 2011-12 school year were released Wednesday by the Minnesota Department of Education.  We’ll have several posts to break down the results, but let’s start by looking at the high school level.  The gap in math performance between the two high schools has been a major concern since the first test results were released in 2010 and showed a 27-point gap between the two schools that was largely driven by Chaska High School’s disappointing 43.6% result.

The 2011 results showed substantial progress, as the gap narrowed to 17 points, and the 2012 results show yet another strong gain, as the gap has now shrunk to about six and one-half points.

Source: Minnesota Department of Education

The 20 point narrowing of the gap over the last two years can be explained by a 15-point improvement in math performance at Chaska High School and a five-point decline in performance at Chanhassen High School over that time.  What is particularly notable is how the 2012 results show that Chaska High was able to pull away from its state average level performance, improving by 10 points in an environment when the state average declined by six points.

From a reading perspective, both schools continued to show performances above state averages.  Chaska High’s reading performance dropped back to historical levels after peaking at 91% last year.  In fact, the nine-point gap in reading in 2012 is larger than the gap in math.

Source: Minnesota Department of Education

Carver County, Chaska, Schools
, , , , ,

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 386 other followers

%d bloggers like this: