Letter to the Editor: Budget Process Shows Engagement

To the Editor:

The last three weeks in Lakeville have been brutal for many families. Our community has had to make many about what we consider priorities when it comes to our children’s education.

There are no good choices; the programs and teachers being cut help our kids reach their full potential as human beings. Different kids respond to different programs and to cut them can be life altering to these young people.

That being said, it has also been wonderful to see families and groups come together to save whatever program was important to their family—to see people engage in the process. Unfortunately it should have happened earlier. That is not a judgment of any group or person. It is, what it is. It is also empowering! 

Great opportunity comes out of great stress and this is a situation where I see HOPE. This community now has a challenge in front of it. Can we take the momentum that has been created by this time of trial and use it over the long haul? 

I think we can! We simply need to engage with regularity with our community. We need to make sure our money is being spent the right way BEFORE we refuse to levy money as a “statement!"  We need to ensure programs and priorities are what we want as we move forward, not when they are being taken away.

We need to pay attention, not only to our school board but also to our legislators.  Eighty percent of our funding comes from decisions reached in St. Paul. Hold them accountable.If you don’t like what they are doing, question them. They all take the job of public service very seriously.  It will take time, and life is busy, I know that as well as anyone, but we can make sure our kids get what they need and deserve.

Make your voices heard regularly and accurately, not matter how you lean politically.

Together we really can make a difference!

Sigrid Iversen, Lakeville