Last week, legislators had the opportunity to meet with #196 Superintendent Jane K. Berenz, some staff members, and many other people from the school district.
The visit started with a tour of the new elementary school, East Lake, in Lakeville. It is an impressive facility, spacious and colorful.
Afterwards, we sat down to a roundtable discussion. District #196 is one of the largest school districts in the state. It has a number of outstanding programs and students with outstanding performances.
On the list of priorities is stable funding, indexing general education formula to inflation, increasing equalilization aid to equalize local tax burden, and allowing local control to renew existing operation tax levies.
Our school districts are still trying to recover from the inadequate funding received during the first half of this decade. Funding our public schools is constitutionally mandated. In addition, we need an educated workforce to have a successful economy.