(ABC 6 News) – It shouldn’t take an act of… The school board, to get things done for our students; but with parents, teachers, school boards and legislators at odds with one another, where does that leave our kids?

When we have a shortfall, how does that impact the quality of education our students are receiving?

“Well it impacts a number of things; [the first being] how many teachers can you hire, how much can you pay them? That’s probably the top thing,” expressed Republican State Senator, Carla Nelson.

And if districts want more funding for unfunded mandates?

They’d have to take it from some other budget line; which could be personnel, or they’d likely go to the taxpayers for additional school property taxes.

Rochester school districts are severely underfunded when compared to their same size counterparts.

“Our most comparable district, demographic and size-wise, is South-Washington County; and we get less than half of what they get in local funding,” said Vince Wagner, President of the Rochester Education Association.

If we look at the numbers, the local contributions necessary from Med City taxpayers to match the district with the most community investment in schools? Well it’d be close to $41 million.

Where exactly is that money supposed to come from?

“The federal government has a responsibility, the state government has a responsibility and the local community has a responsibility. It’s all of those things coming together is what creates the funding and the budget for school districts,” said Liz Boldon, DFL Minnesota State Senator.

“The state legislature was never meant to be the local school board, our constitution does require that we fund education and we need to do that; but we need to trust the locals how best to use those funds,” stated Sen. Nelson.

To micro-manage or not to micro-manage? That seems to be the question; with state officials going back and forth over differing opinions on how to best tackle the situation.

But there’s a human cost.

“Working in elementary classrooms, I see the students and all their passions and what they’re interested in and they get super excited to go to soccer practice that night,” shared graduating high school senior, Emily West.

She goes on to ask, “Will they have to stop that in middle school because they don’t offer it? Can they not even explore that until high school? Can they even explore it in high school?”

Byron Public Schools. Byron Teacher’s Union, and Rochester Public Schools all declined to give statement; but for RPS, without a successful referendum they’ll have to cut about $20 million from next year’s budget.

Voting to put that proposed levy on the ballot will happen Tuesday, May 21st.

(ABC 6 News) – Minnesota school districts across our area are seeing significant budget cuts at the expense of our children, as school boards try to pass referenda one after another, no one seems to be happy.

Rochester school districts are severely underfunded when compared to their same size counterparts; millions of dollars in referenda and proposed levies later, and it seems nothing is being done.

If we look at the numbers, the local contributions necessary from Med City taxpayers to match the district with the most community investment in schools? Well it’d be close to $41 million.

Where exactly is that money supposed to come from?

“We can’t undo the many years of disinvestment with one budget cycle, so it’s work that is going to have to continue, and local communities are a piece of the puzzle as well,” said Liz Boldon, DFL Minnesota State Senator.

She goes on to say, “It’s concerning, and again every kid in Minnesota deserves that world class education.”

With state officials going back and forth over differing opinions on how to best tackle the situation, it can be confusing having to wonder what is being done; or even who’s to blame?