School bonds

THUMBS UP: Half of one percent doesn’t sound like a lot, but when you’re talking interest rates on a $46.1 million bond sale, it makes a big difference. District 88 approved the sale of bonds for its building project on Thursday, with a rate of 3.15 percent, which is .56 points less than the rate the bond advisor was anticipating. That means the district – and the district taxpayers – will spend about $4 million less than expected to pay off the bonds over the next 25 years.

That’s great news for the district, which is getting ready to start building its new high school complex in the spring.

Delaftion-gate

THUMBS DOWN: Is this nation seriously caught up in the speculation that the New England Patriots might have cheated by deflating its footballs in its 45-7 romp over Indianapolis in the AFC?championship game?

We have a quick and easy solution for NFL to avoid future inflation-deflation drama. Instead of letting each team provide its own footballs, let’s get back to sandlot rules – one football, everybody uses it. Well, half a dozen, or whatever is needed for a game. But the league provides the balls, and both teams use the same balls.

Bingo! Problem solved.

Equal school funding

THUMBS DOWN: There are many parts of the Minnesota public school funding program that don’t make a lot of sense. One of those is the right held by 25 districts, most of them in the metro area, to levy taxes for maintenance purposes – repairs, new carpets, new paint, security upgrades, upgrading heating and cooling systems – without asking voters for permission. Other districts in the state don’t have this right.

Minnesota school districts are strictly controlled by state law. The state decides what the funding level is per pupil, and how much the districts can levy to raise these funds. Anything else has to go through a referendum – except in the 25 favored districts.

We’re sure districts in the area would love to levy money without having to pass a referendum. A bill has been introduced in the Legislature to give every district this same right, but it would be costly for the state to kick in for districts with lower tax bases.

School districts, especially in the outstate areas, should demand equal rights to operate and raise funds as they are needed.