Submitted to the Independent

To the editor:

Minnesota prides itself on having a high quality education system, but our rural school districts are under increasing pressure.

While our Minnesota Constitution calls for a "uniform system of public schools," this is hardly the case. Wide disparities exist in funding with Minneapolis, St. Paul and many of the larger suburban school districts receiving as much as $4,000 more per student than schools in west central Minnesota.

There are many reasons for this unfairness, but a chief reason is that the education funding formula has been manipulated by Minneapolis and St. Paul DFL legislators to overwhelmingly favor urban schools. Thirty years of nearly complete control of the Legislature by Democrats has resulted in a broken system that shortchanges students in rural Minnesota.

This must end.

And in the last legislative session, payment of hundreds of millions of dollars of education funding that should have gone to our rural schools was instead used to balance the state budget. Once again, rural students and rural schools were shortchanged with the support of DFLer Andrew Falk, who voted for this funding scheme.

Fortunately, Jay Backer, candidate for State Representative has a hands-on working knowledge of education finance. Jay has been fighting for our rural schools. He has been a school board member for nine years.

He served seven years as Board Chair in addition to being an active member of the Minnesota Rural Education Association. And as a parent with five children who are students in our local public schools, Jay Backer understands the importance of local schools to our community pride, our economy and our rural way of

Voters concerned about education will have a strong advocate with the election of Jay Backer. It's time for a new voice for our schools.

Janet Saunders, Benson; Burton Nypen, Ortonville; Barbara Larson, Canby; Lois Sather, Madison