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Minnesota Facing State Aid UnallotmentsHow will this affect counties and communities?by: Pam Ness, CCOGA Program CoordinatorThe state is facing a short-term deficit of $426million in the FY 2008-2009 biennium. nium. GovernorTim Pawlenty ordered anunallotment ofstate aidto cities and counties asone measure to balance thestate’s current year budget.Theunallotment ntaffects theDecember 26, 2008 state aid payments.The unallotments are calculated culaas a percent of totalpay 2008 revenue base. Forcities, iesthepay2008revenue base is equal to the certified edlevy pluscertifiedlocal government aid (LGA) plus taconite aid. Forcounties, the pay 2008 revenue base is equal tocertified levy plus certified ed county program aid (CPA)plus taconite aid.‣ The city unallotment percentage is equalto 4.08% of the total revenue base for allcommunities having a population of more than1,000.‣ The county unallotment percentage is equal to1.68% of the total revenue base for all countieshaving a population of more than 5,000.To cover the balance of the short-term deficit, thegovernor also confirmed that the state’s remaining$155 million rainy day fund would be entirelydepleted and that state agency appropriations would bereduced by $40 million.The statewide balance of the unallotments will betaken from counties ($44 million), health and humanservice programs ($73 million), the University ofMinnesota ($20 million) and MNSCU ($20 million),state agencies ($40 million), Minnesota HousingFinance Agency ($4 million), and the 21 st centurymineral fund ($1.5 million).With hundreds of thousands being cut from countyCPA and city LGA money, administrators are facingtough choices. One area that is being hit especiallyhard is the county Human Services Departments; theplaces where people go for help during economic hardtimes.Lakes Country Service Cooperative has a history ofdeveloping new programs based on member requests.In light of this economic disaster, LCSC would liketo extend an offering to all member agencies to letus know what your needs are and how we can help.Lakes Country Service Cooperative is available andopen to discussions regarding current and new ideasfor services. Feel free to contact Lakes CountryService Cooperative at 218-739-3273.City Public Works DirectorsMeet at Lakes Country Service Cooperativeby: Pam Ness, CCOGA Program CoordinatorThe first networking meeting for city public works directors was held at LCSC on Friday, January 9, 2009. Ninedirectors attended, representing eight communities in Pope, Traverse, Otter Tail, and Becker counties. Thisnetworking group is open to all Public Works Directors and their department associates at no cost.The next networking meeting will be held in April. Please contact Pam Ness at pamness@lcsc.org or call218-739-3273 for more information.4
Teacher Shows Students...Y.E.S. They Can Make ItReprinted with permission from the Fargo ForumLast year, English teacher Nicole Olson found herself listeningin on a study hall discussion about college applications. “We goto alternative school,” said one student, a teenage mom. “It’s notlike we’ll be able to get into college.”At Moorhead’s Youth EducationalServices (Y.E.S. Program), a programfor at-risk teens, students occasionallybuy into the notion that they’re boundto fail, Olson knows. She jumped intothe conversation. She had some newsfor that girl. Almost 15 years ago, Olsonwas a teen mom who sat in this samesouth Moorhead classroom poring overbooks, her favorite escape. In 2007, shereturned to Y.E.S. to tackle her firstteaching job out of Minnesota StateUniversity Moorhead. She’s tappinginto her own experience to shape herapproach to teaching: a tolerance forbending the rules, an awareness thatheartbreak can derail school – and thereadiness to strategically deploy herstory when students are gripped by selfdoubt.“It’s nice to be able to say, ‘Youknow, I was you in ’94,’ ” Olson said. “‘And you know what? Things have a way of working themselvesout.’ ”In the weeks leading up to her first day of school, Olsonanxiously revisited her college textbooks. She reread everythingon laying down clear rules and planning out adaily routine. Then, she showed up for workand faced an empty classroom. “Here yourplans will change in the first five minutes ofclass,” Olson said, “especially when after thefirst five minutes you go, ‘Where are all my students?’ ” (Shefound they were picking up snacks and studying their schedules.)She’s learned to pick her battles. She doesn’t sweat a fewminutes’ tardiness or the occasional foul word – though shemight good-naturedly scold the speaker. When a hiphop tuneblared out of a jeans back pocket during a recent class, shesmiled and asked, “Do you want me to talk to him?” as a girlpromptly turned off her cell phone. “I’m just not a big rulefreak,” Olson said. “I don’t think you can be here. You have tobe a bit of a renegade.” In fact, she only has three nonnegotiablerules: Respect yourself, others and others’ property. Pick upafter yourself. No fighting, putdowns or harassment. “She dealswith the kids with a sense of humor, and she doesn’t get intheir face,” said veteran Y.E.S. science teacher Sharon Walker.“She’s enthusiastic about what she’s teaching, and that helps alot.” Olson readily confesses she’s not a fan of Shakespeare andprefers picking out contemporary fare, such as the edgy selectionfor her Futuristic America class.One recent morning, Olson readout loud from M.T. Anderson’s“Feed,” an unsettling look atan ultraconsumerist society. Itwas time to have a chat. Sheand her students joined forces todecipher the meaning of somenovelty lingo. A girl hookedup to the Internet on her cellphone to look up a word. Theytalked about the author’s manicconversational style. Then,students settled down to answerseveral questions in writing,but not before a girl asked,“There’s no right or wronganswers, right?” “Right,” Olsonanswered, giving her a thumbsup.“I really actually want youto explore the questions.”One of the students, seniorTravis Raftevold, can’t quite recall what books he had to read intraditional school, but he remembers he would often quit a fewpages in. But Olson’s irreverent, thought-provoking selectionhas him reading all the way through. Says junior Emma Joyce:“She’s deep and open-minded.“It’s one of those momentsthat’s worth saving...”Instead of lecturing to us, sheengages us in conversation.”Olson usually waits for a dip instudents’ self-confidence to reveal her history with the school.“It’s one of those moments that’s worth saving,” she says. Olsontransferred here her junior year to escape traditional school’s“drama, cliques, all that stuff.” She says she was sexuallyassaulted her sophomore year, and her Hitterdal school buzzedwith gossip, making it hard to focus on academics.At Y.E.S. , she found a family-like atmosphere, fellow sexualassault survivors and a chance to regroup.The best lesson of her stint as an at-risk student, said Olson,is that often the best thing a teacher can do about flagginggrades is sit a student down and listen. “Sometimes they needencouragement,” she says. “Sometimes they need a little mentalkick in the behind. First and foremost, they need to knowsomebody cares.”5
Page 1 and 2: LCSC Communicatorwww.lcsc.orgSE T M
Page 3: Legislative CornerGuest Author: Sen
Page 7 and 8: NW-LINKS Coordinator NewsBringing y
Page 9 and 10: LCSC’s Purchasing Program Introdu
Page 11 and 12: of EventsAPRILEveryday Mathematics
Page 13 and 14: Senior High Knowledge Bowl Season H
Page 15: Welcome New EmployeeMaria HansonCur
Page 18 and 19: Leadership Skills Training for 2009
Page 20: Congratulations to the Fergus Falls

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