This 
is my letter to the editor in support of our school's upcoming referendum.
I am proud to be voting YES for West Central Area School’s referendum in the upcoming election. I understand the direct correlation between investing in a quality education and building a strong local economy. When attracting people to our rural communities we need to have a global view and rely on what research has been showing us for a number of years. The future does not lay in industry; building a new factory and paying people substandard wages is a regressive initiative at best; it is unsustainable and will result in no real economic growth. Real economic growth is going to be in attracting the creative class and gold collar workers to our community. It is no longer jobs that attract people to a community, it is a community that attracts people and those people bring or create jobs.
Over the past few years I have meet a number of new families who have moved into our community. Upon asking them what brought them here, I found it was our quaint little town, the sense of community, the beauty of the region, all of the amenities that were available in our small town and overwhelmingly, our school. Some of these people work from home so they could choose to live anywhere but they choose here. In essence it was our infrastructure that attracted them and not in the traditional sense of the word. Our infrastructure includes core services, such as utilities, streets, and telecommunications (all of which are top notch), but it goes beyond that. The creative class and gold collar workers are looking for value added services such as parks, trails, charm, libraries, cultural activities and quality schools. This group of people is not going to settle for average or hum drum, and they don’t have to because they can telecommute and are willing to travel to work as long as where they live provides them and their families with the amenities they are looking for. They relocate to the community of their dreams, so to speak.
I am also a bit perplexed by the referendum neigh sayers obsession with teacher’s salaries. In no way do I think our teachers are overpaid, I have reviewed the state’s teacher’s pay statistics at the Minnesota department of Education’s website and you can too. What might be more pertinent to compare is what the average person with a four year degree or master’s degree is paid. Trust me; teachers are at the low end of that scale. Since when it is our goal to under pay teachers? I want our local educators to be well compensated for the outstanding and eminently important and essential work they do. I believe that the work educators do is paramount to the growth, sustainability and economic health of our community.
The dedication of our local teachers is par excellence. Drive by the local elementary school one evening or weekend and notice the cars out front that belong to teachers who are spending their own, unpaid time working in the classroom to get done what the normal work week doesn’t allow for. I also know personally that many teachers use their own money to supplement resources and materials for their classrooms in order to enhance the experience of their students. We have outstanding teachers who deserve fair pay for their work.
Educational funding in the state of Minnesota has changed and the responsibility has been put into the hands of local residents. The state is in essence giving us the opportunity to say “Yes, we value and are willing to support quality education.” Or we can devastate our local schools which will eventually cripple our local economies and send our small towns into a downward spiral that we can’t work our way out of”.
I too, like most people I know, live on a fixed income. I wanted to buy a new pair of shoes, but instead I chose to have this letter published in our local paper. My income may be fixed, but my priorities are straight.
While some people hop on that, “No new taxes” mantra . I don’t like to have a blanket response to issues. I like to do some research and dig into things a bit. As it turns out, with this referendum the return on our tax investment is amazingly high. It is what I would consider too good of a deal to pass up. Please join me in investing in the future by voting yes.
Gail Hedstrom
Elbow Lake
is my letter to the editor in support of our school's upcoming referendum.I am proud to be voting YES for West Central Area School’s referendum in the upcoming election. I understand the direct correlation between investing in a quality education and building a strong local economy. When attracting people to our rural communities we need to have a global view and rely on what research has been showing us for a number of years. The future does not lay in industry; building a new factory and paying people substandard wages is a regressive initiative at best; it is unsustainable and will result in no real economic growth. Real economic growth is going to be in attracting the creative class and gold collar workers to our community. It is no longer jobs that attract people to a community, it is a community that attracts people and those people bring or create jobs.
Over the past few years I have meet a number of new families who have moved into our community. Upon asking them what brought them here, I found it was our quaint little town, the sense of community, the beauty of the region, all of the amenities that were available in our small town and overwhelmingly, our school. Some of these people work from home so they could choose to live anywhere but they choose here. In essence it was our infrastructure that attracted them and not in the traditional sense of the word. Our infrastructure includes core services, such as utilities, streets, and telecommunications (all of which are top notch), but it goes beyond that. The creative class and gold collar workers are looking for value added services such as parks, trails, charm, libraries, cultural activities and quality schools. This group of people is not going to settle for average or hum drum, and they don’t have to because they can telecommute and are willing to travel to work as long as where they live provides them and their families with the amenities they are looking for. They relocate to the community of their dreams, so to speak.
I am also a bit perplexed by the referendum neigh sayers obsession with teacher’s salaries. In no way do I think our teachers are overpaid, I have reviewed the state’s teacher’s pay statistics at the Minnesota department of Education’s website and you can too. What might be more pertinent to compare is what the average person with a four year degree or master’s degree is paid. Trust me; teachers are at the low end of that scale. Since when it is our goal to under pay teachers? I want our local educators to be well compensated for the outstanding and eminently important and essential work they do. I believe that the work educators do is paramount to the growth, sustainability and economic health of our community.
The dedication of our local teachers is par excellence. Drive by the local elementary school one evening or weekend and notice the cars out front that belong to teachers who are spending their own, unpaid time working in the classroom to get done what the normal work week doesn’t allow for. I also know personally that many teachers use their own money to supplement resources and materials for their classrooms in order to enhance the experience of their students. We have outstanding teachers who deserve fair pay for their work.
Educational funding in the state of Minnesota has changed and the responsibility has been put into the hands of local residents. The state is in essence giving us the opportunity to say “Yes, we value and are willing to support quality education.” Or we can devastate our local schools which will eventually cripple our local economies and send our small towns into a downward spiral that we can’t work our way out of”.
I too, like most people I know, live on a fixed income. I wanted to buy a new pair of shoes, but instead I chose to have this letter published in our local paper. My income may be fixed, but my priorities are straight.
While some people hop on that, “No new taxes” mantra . I don’t like to have a blanket response to issues. I like to do some research and dig into things a bit. As it turns out, with this referendum the return on our tax investment is amazingly high. It is what I would consider too good of a deal to pass up. Please join me in investing in the future by voting yes.
Gail Hedstrom
Elbow Lake
