Readers Write: Private-school funding, state and federal spending

Opinion editor’s note: Strib Voices publishes letters from readers online and in print each day. To contribute, click here.

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Gov. Tim Walz frequently espouses that we’re “One Minnesota.” This has been his plan, which has been fully adopted by the DFL Legislature for some time now. We’re now getting a better understanding who truly qualifies as a Minnesotan. If your family chooses to attend private schools here in Minnesota, you’re out! ("For decades, Minnesota has subsidized private schools. Gov. Tim Walz wants to cut $109 million," StarTribune.com, April 15.)

The governor and the DFL Legislature are on a mission to make school choice here limited to just their way: one type of school, public. They despise school choice, fear the competition and fear facts that private schools consistently outperform public schools, hands down. While they want to eliminate nonpublic school aid, they still want (and will continue to take) tax dollars for public-school funding, even if your child doesn’t attend public schools. Your value to the state is the money in your wallet — period.

Sen. Erin Maye Quade said it would be wonderful to continue to fund private schools if the state had the money. I think that it would be wonderful if the governor and DFL had not squandered the massive budget surplus we once had. Perhaps if our leadership had some fiscal restraint, there wouldn’t now be a looming budget deficit.

Walz and the DFL are going to attempt to eliminate over $100 million in pupil and transportation aid to nonpublic schools, citing budget constraints as the reason. If passed, this would result in taxes funding only public school students’ needs and not those of the nonpublic school students, which it does today. Are the governor and DFL targeting private schools based upon faith beliefs? It feels very much so. Private school students are not less worthy than public. They are Minnesotans, learning and contributing to the state. Are you going to dismiss them, governor?

Hans Molenaar, Shoreview

The article "For decades, Minnesota has subsidized private schools. Gov. Tim Walz wants to cut $109 million" about DFL efforts to cut private-school funding is very troubling.

Walz and the DFL are attempting to cut $109 million in aid from private schools throughout the state. This aid pays for textbooks, standardized tests, health services, guidance counselors and other education materials. Charter schools stand to lose $40 million.

Thousands of children depend on these programs. Has the DFL even developed a plan to address their needs?

Obviously we need to address the budget crisis. So why, then, are we spending millions to subsidize free meals to the children of multimillionaires? That’s what should be cut.

Jim Piga, Mendota Heights

What else is wrong here? The person is a young person, and my extensive medical experience is that she could go days without water and it would not harm her health. I’ve seen people under the ages of 55 to 60 who have had diarrhea and vomiting for three to four days and although they are dehydrated, their electrolytes and renal function are still in a normal range and they recover quickly and completely. Admittedly, not so for the elderly.

The bill proponent is proposing water that would most likely be supplied in single-use, discardable plastic bottles. If she and the Legislature are not aware of the negative global consequences of plastic, they need to educate themselves. If she needs water that badly, bring an appropriate water bottle from home. Tap water is far healthier than the bottle water so many of us can’t seem to live without. And you won’t have people ingesting microplastics, which have significant negative health consequences.

And although I have other concerns about this whole issue, the last one I’ll shake my finger at is that this story made the first page of the Minnesota Star Tribune. Really? Why?

David Walcher, St. Paul

I read with astonishment about the federal grant cuts to our beloved arts and cultural groups (“Arts, cultural groups can’t escape federal chopping block,” April 14). These cuts are to previously signed contracts with budgets planned, staff hired and work underway. Though how I remain astonished is on me, as this comes from the same man who stiffed his contractors after the work was complete. This is unethical and mean-spirited, and we should not stand for it.

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After three months of daily headlines, we have a clear picture of what this administration considers “government waste.” Cancer and Alzheimer’s research. Disease prevention. Pretty much all science. Earthquake relief. Veterans’ benefits. Special education teachers. People who answer the phone. People whose job it is to collect money for the government for all the other things that haven’t been cut yet. (Because of that last one, Musk’s laser focus on efficiency has cost much more than it’s saved so far.)

Remember how after every school shooting, we hear that we don’t need gun control, we need to focus on mental health for students? Guess what we just found out counts as wasteful government spending?

So when state Republicans say they’re going to cut the waste out of Minnesota government, we’ll know what’s on the chopping block: anything that helps ordinary people, or pays for those who do.

Paul Chillman, Richfield

For weeks President Donald Trump has talked about all the savings gained from laying off federal workers, shutting down agencies, eliminating previously negotiated contracts and pausing government spending. According to an analysis by the Wall Street Journal, using data from the Treasury Department comparing the first quarter of the Trump administration vs. that of President Joe Biden in the first quarter of 2024, spending is actually up! The numbers are startling. The spending under Trump’s administration actually is $154 billion higher than the same quarter a year earlier!

Some of the spending can be attributed to the president going to his properties and/or golf courses for 10 weekends of his presidency so far. The cost of aviation fuel, his security detail, etc., has costs millions. That said, the country has spent billions more, so we should question where the billions are being spent. After all, we were promised “savings for the American people” under his leadership. When can we expect to see them?

Jan McCarthy, Eden Prairie

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I agree we have a mental health and addiction crisis in this state. The $27.5 million federal funding cut will hurt these organizations (“Trump cuts rattle addiction, mental health programs,” April 14). However, these funds were provided as part of COVID relief. Weren’t these leaders shortsighted to believe, since COVID is gone, that they would continue? Why should the feds pay for a non-crisis? Our attorney general thinks they should and is wasting taxpayer resources to try and prove it. Maybe part of the former $17.5 billion surplus could have been used here. Just sayin’ ...