From staff reports

If the world were as simple a place as Gov.

Friday, December 28, 2001

If the world were as simple a place as Gov. Jesse Ventura proclaims it, how much better off we all would be. As Ventura’s term in the statehouse wears on, however, he and the people he was elected to represent are finding out just how complicated things are.

Frustrated that his simple plan for cutting education spending has not worked out like he hoped, Ventura has decided to lash out at what he probably sees as an easy target: School administration. Ventura has since apologized for using inaccurate statistics, but the viewpoint that drove his comments no doubt remains unchanged. The governor’s black-and-white world view just doesn’t match with reality – and, once again, it is likelier that he thereby does more harm than good.

Ventura spent the days before this November’s election campaigning against school districts’ levy referendums.

His view, apparently, was that public schools get plenty of money and can provide top-quality educations simply by rethinking what they do. To no one’s surprise, lots of school levy referendums around the state failed and districts began scrambling to deal with budget problems.

Some of those solutions – a four-day school week, for example – didn’t meet Ventura’s approval, leading to a tirade last week against school administrators.

The governor, whose credentials as an educator or education expert are minimal, has failed to consider a

significant point: Most of what schools do and what they spend is effectively set in stone by state law. Options for cutting expenditures only go so far before they run afoul of state laws requiring schools to undertake various projects and activities, many of which have little to do with teaching the three Rs.

The maze of federal and state rules surrounding athletics, special education, budgeting, vocational education – to name only a few examples – simply cannot be negotiated without people to manage the paper and information flow. Teachers can not do it, unless they spend their time filling out forms rather than teaching.

It might sound good and simple when Ventura mouths off about an easy way for schools to cut spending. Those simple ideas quickly lose their luster when held up to scrutiny. Ventura’s weren’t even supported by accurate statistics.

Interestingly, Ventura does not hold his own office to the same standards he would apply to schools. Asked in a recent interview whether he would cut his office’s budget, he defended his personnel expenditures by saying, &uot;The Legislature makes the laws, and I need the proper amount of people to carry out what they pass over there, in which to do it.&uot; That is the precise situation in which schools find themselves.