Schools are crumbling and overcrowded. Lowell school is so crowded that that the 4th graders have their classes on the 2nd floor and their lockers in the basement.

I see many people comparing what the kids have now to what they had when they were in school 20, 30, 40 or more years ago. Brainerd children are not competing against what you had when you were a kid. They are not competing against what kids in Alabama have. They are competing against kids from wealthy school districts in the US AND kids from India, China, etc... We need to do what we can to prepare our kids to excel in the globally competitive situation that they are facing.

Remember, the kids you are supporting today will be voters and tax payers in the not too distant future. Everyone wins if they are well prepared and effective members of the economy. They might even vote to keep funding your social security and medicare ;)

Johngalt wants us to vote no on his say so. Tell us more, John.

Why no-no? List your reasons and back them up with facts. "Because I said so" is fruitless. "Because someone told me" does not bear up.

I understand the frustration and anger at the tax bills lately. I see it in my own obligations. Gov. Ventura gave us a whole new way to pay car license tabs -- and it cost us better roads. I've seen my property taxes go up, I pay more fees on several items from fishing licenses to taxes on tickets to athletic events and cultural events in the cities. Its all there. The frustration you and I share, in many ways, is justified.

The difference is that school funding is so much based on local voting these days. You don't get to vote on who gets road contracts. You don't get to vote on county landfill use and policy. Unfortunately, that makes the schools a great target for the anger --- and its concentrated anger since we are not able to so directly vote on tax policies except in school issues.

Use your anger to contact our lawmakers -- whether it be school board, county commissioner, city officers, senators, representatives --- tell them your feelings. That's where it will field better results.

galt and pdnet are so bitter and angry, about everything

is there any joy in your lives?

p.s. galt - Did you see Obama passed his physical with flying colors? SMOKE FREE ! lots of us smoked when we were young and foolish. I didn't post a pic of GWB drinking or doing drugs in his early life while he was President.

Maybe the homestead tax credit has nothing to do with the schools, but it has EVERYTHING to do with my pocketbook. More money will be leaving it. How can the school or anyone taxing you more and more and more think its a good idea?

Nobody seems to know what's going to happen when the homestead thing goes away, but I will bet it will up be a 100% increases on your property taxes. Now add on more taxes by this referendum and we should all be happy when we don't have money for things right?

Yup, this is a good investment on our future, but what if we don't have one because nobody has any disposable income to climb this area out of its slump?

As for blowing money by this school district, one look at forestview is all you need for a reminder of wasteful spending.

Well, I don't even live in the district, but I got two mailers about the referendum. So take that for whatever its worth. In my humble opinion, it's time for all public funded organizations from the federal government on down to the local school level to start realizing that there is not an endless pit of money out here. I know of too many people who have either lost jobs or taken pay cuts (while their price of insurance goes up) for any type of tax increase to be justified.

I'm not in the Brainerd District but if it's an excess levy referendum how is that going to help the crumbling and overcrowding?

At least you give a few reasons why you are voting NO NO.... and that is what this kind of forum is for. At its best, the healthful exchange of opinions is when this sort of communication is at its best. You gave your reasons, and now we can clearly discuss them. You're right, no one need truly explain their statement, but then they contribute nothing to the conversation and waster our time and his. That's why I challenged johngalt to list his reasons like you did.

And i ask YOU specifically, WHERE does the school district spend money like water? Where is your proof that the school board is not being honest? Which of the six have lied? Have you caught them in a lie? Again, when you make these statements without anything to back them up, you might as well as not even list them.

You're right; we don't know how the property taxes will come out.... and there is no way the school board could have anticipated this when they started considering a referendum vote. I have stated earlier that it is rather standard that boards are looking at least 6 months in advance -- and I have been told that they may start considering such a need as much 2 years ahead of time. No one sees into the future. There's no way they could know what's coming up ...somewhere along the way, decision time comes.

For I-disagree-with-dems.... are you seriously going to vote on a BET? Wow. You are another one who apparently can see into the future better than the rest of us....

again, generalizations and downright untruths....typical

and the GOP front runners are ..well, stumbling.. amazing that the GOP could not get candidates in line who could engage the public and not fight among themselves.

I'm rathar cheerful about that. Watching the GOP debates is sort of entertaining and good for some giggles. Like the last debate when a commentator, when asked who 'won' the debate said, "Obama." I'm still giggling about that.

All your items may be true, but you have not produced a single document that backs it up .... nothing. You've said nothing new here.

1.) Who or what says the children are so poorly educated? Do you have a research article? A document of some sort?
2.) Who says the schools are poorly managed? Are you comparing it to other schools? Are you comparing it to some other business entity?
3.) How do you figure the schools are run by the teachers union? Which teacher union officials are making the decisions? Specifically, who are the teacher union officals right here in Brainerd who are calling the shots? Who does Superintendent Razidlo answer to in the teacher union?

There, you have your questions, johngalt.

@john galt: you say the students in ISD 181 are poorly educated and are being indoctrinated with a liberal agenda. Have you checked out the curriculum? Every grade maps them out in detail month by month. The teachers for my kids have shared them at every parent conference I've attended, and they are included in class syllabi. I see alot of Math, English, History, Science and Technology being taught. Haven't ever seen evidence of the "liberal agenda" in homework, class notes or on the sylabus, which details what will be studied.

Students are poorly educated? ISD 181 still betters the state average in testing, and compares favorably to other schools in our region. Yet we do this on LESS per student than any other school in our conference. In fact, we invest less per student than any other school our size in outstate Minnesota.
That can't sustain classrooms for long. Step into any classroom in ISD 181 (I have) and you'll find far too many students (30-35 at Forestview, 30-36 at BHS), old textbooks, and schools that aren't able to keep up with the technology our kids will need to be successful when they enter the workforce.

If passed, how/where will it be spent? Can any of the Yes/Yes crowd give a breakdown on where this money will be spent? Operations can be a broad area. Just like the debate on spending Legacy money. I hope it doesn't go to artificial turf for the football field.

but it can help overcrowding. There are simply more students in Lowell than the building was meant to handle. Those choices were made when they closed buildings due to the last levy failure. If the money was there to keep other schools open and have more teachers that problem would be solved.

pdnet - I believe it was $1.7 million.