281 Referendum YES281 : What is Success ?

Wayzata School District Report Card
Wayzata School District Demographics
RAS District Report Card
RAS District Demographics
Relative Funding Graphic

Have I got a treat for you today. If you have not been to the MN Dept of Educ website, their database of school information is impressive to say the least. You can slice and dice schools and their student bodies in a hundred different ways. Typically the vote no folk will direct you to the RAS District Report Card in order to show how badly the district is failing...

Well that is not my goal today. In fact I am going to make the argument that RAS is actually performing as or more effectively than the Wayzata School District. Arguably one of the best districts in the State.

First you will notice that Wayzata scored 88.2% on the AYP, and RAS scored 84.2%. (sounds bad for RAS right) Well, now let's look at the demographics and funding for each.

Wayzata: LEP: 2% SE: 8% F&R Lunch: 12% APY att: 96% GR: 97% Local funds: $1572
RAS: LEP: 12% SE: 12% F&R Lunch: 38% APY att: 95% GR: 96% Local funds: $ 848

In summary RAS attains almost the same attendance and graduation rate, even though they start with ~3,600 more children that are in the F&R Lunch category, and ~1,300 more children that start school barely speaking English. In summary, RAS is delivering incredible results given the relative demographics and funding !!!

Now, how does demographics impact the RAS test scores, since Wayzata does have better test scores:
RAS Math Proficiencies:
F&RL: ~39%
No F&RL: ~70%
LEP: ~48%
No LEP: ~60%

RAS Reading Proficiencies:
F&RL: ~44%
No F&RL: ~80%
LEP: ~35%
No LEP: ~70%

The reality is RAS has more challenges and less funding. So Vote YES on 1 & 2 to at least reduce the funding gap. Ideally, we would give more !!!