Stillwater School District 834 Wasting Tax Dollars Throwing Out Hundreds of Desks, Chairs, & Office Equipment.

Intro: Stillwater Schools, ISD 834 is no stranger to wasting tax dollars. For their last bond request they promised parents part of the $96 million dollar bond request would go to improving the schools. They went back on that promise and instead closed 3 schools they had promised improvements to. In a fully sourced post we shared, Stillwater Area Public Schools spends $226,429 per avg classroom of 17.86 students per year. Yet they still the complain they don't have enough money to keep the lights on, threatening deep cuts. The latest is Dumpsters full of seemingly perfectly good school equipment across the district:

By: Elizabeth Weisberg 

Our tax dollars at work. 

I found the Harry Potter quote extremely ironic regarding admin and the board.

There is SO MUCH WASTE. Every year they pay for new curriculum, teacher evaluation software, new apps, additional administration, consultants to tell them how to do their jobs...WHEN WILL THE WASTE OF OUR MONEY STOP?!!!

Stillwater ISD834 Spends Nearly $250,000 per class, Only 1/3 Goes to Teachers.

By: DeeDee Armstrong

Stillwater School District ISD 834 enrolls roughly 8,300 students. 

In the 2015-2016 school year the revenue was $106 million dollars (p.21 of the budget pdf), 

In the 2015-2016 school year the average student to teacher ratio was 18.99(p.146 of the CAFR pdf) 

That's a per pupil cost of $12,771 a year. Multiply that by the current average student to teacher ratio of 18.99 you get: 

Stillwater Area Public Schools spends 

                  $242,522 

per avg class of 18.99 students...PER YEAR!

(this is assuming every teacher has their own class, which is not the case. Some teach special ed, some classes have two teachers like in early education. So this number is very conservative)

Given that 85% of the budget is spent on staffing, a classroom of 18.99 (based on $242,522), shows the staffing is $206,143 per classroom per year. Looking back at data, we see that Stillwater teachers are earning around $70,000 annually, plus benefits, so lets call it $80,000.  That leaves $126,143 for other staff... like school psychologists, secretaries... And Central Services. 

$80,000 of $242,522 on teachers is ONLY $33% of the money going towards classroom teachers. That's only 1/3 of the budget going towards the teachers in the classrooms.

Lastly, we budget $529,017 for Travel and Conferences this year in ISD834. In 2015-15 we spent $302,857. Which is a 74% INCREASE since 2014-15.

Compare that to 622 (North St Paul - Maplewood- Oakdale). They enroll 10,660 students (larger than 834). 
This year they budget $390,441 for Travel and Conferences. In 2014-15, they spent $403,587. They DECREASED that line when their enrollment decreased.

Perhaps part of the problem in Stillwater School District is a spending problem.

Letter from 3rd Generation Withrow Family to District 834: Don't Close Our Schools

Vote has been defered to March 3rd, please show up and speak up. Details here:
http://www.stillwater.k12.mn.us/district/district-news-e-news/march-3-public-hearing-and-vote-bold

February 11, 2016

Dear

As the events have unfolded since the announcement of the BOLD proposal in December, I’ve watched.  I’ve watched, I’ve read, I’ve listened and I’ve learned.  I’ve learned a lot about the community from which I come.  I am so intensely proud to be a part of a community that fights so hard and so tirelessly for what they believe in and what is RIGHT!   I’ve also learned a lot about the Administration and their philosophies.

The current Administration and the team which was assembled to come up with this proposal called BOLD are anything but bold.  It seems they have purposefully disconnected themselves from what used to make this district and this valley a great place to live and a wonderful place to educate your children.  They have forgotten what used to make us great.  We did not strive to always have the biggest and best buildings, or the shiniest and most innovative things.  We did strive to educate our children with the tools we had in some of the best schools in the state.  These schools were/are the best because of the COMMUNITIES that they are a part of.   Our schools succeed due to the wonderful teachers, support staff, children and parents.  This greatness cannot be shuffled around.  It cannot be moved.  To imply that YOU will be able to recreate this magic that is present each day in my child’s learning experience, after you close the school and move them around is preposterous.  YOU did not create this environment.  We did; our community did.

People have provided facts to the contrary of every point of the BOLD proposal.  Each “fact” of BOLD has been refuted by the parents and community who have provided actual FACTS backed by actual research.  Nearly each “fact” within this faulty proposal is actually a “fallacy”.  And why?  To what end?  This proposal has divided a community, and has been led by an individual who has not even been here long enough to understand 1/16^th of what this district stands for.  I’ll go one step further with this and say that if Ms. Pontrelli had taken any time to observe and spent any real time in Marine, Withrow or OP interacting with students, teachers, parents and the community before this proposal was announced, it never would have come to fruition, because she would have already known that this is NOT WHAT HER DISTRICT PARENTS AND TAXPAYERS WANT.

Closing these schools is wrong.  It will devastate communities, it will shatter tradition and excellence, and it is a betrayal of trust.  It’s a lie.

I ask you to reject the recommendation to delay the vote.  VOTE NO this evening, and let’s move on.  Let’s come together and find a solution to problems that are laid out in a manner people can decipher and understand.  Let’s stop the bleeding here.  Tonight’s the night for you to vote to reclaim our district and our community.  VOTE NO.

Sincerely,

Ami M. Keller-Johnson