To the Editor-School board member requests your help

Talk about it

More...

• School Board hotly debates trust fund issue

To the Editor:

I am coming to you as taxpayers and voters in this community for help, ideas, and/or support on an issue that the Cloquet School Board has been dealing with for the past few months. Several years ago school districts were given the opportunity to bond for taxpayer monies to support our OPEB obligations. That stands for Other Post Retirement Benefits. From that vote which went 5 to 1, we have about $6 million set aside and invested to pay for the health care of our present and future retirees. This is your money which we took from you without your permission…..no referendum was involved. Now we are at an impasse as to where and how it will be invested from now on.

Three of us believe and voted to keep the investments local with a Fortune 500 company that meets all of the state requirements for these school investments and has proven itself to do well with our Education Foundation investments. This company has also been a supporter of our schools with donations and local fundraising efforts. Three of us believe that your money should be invested locally. Our busing is local, our snow removal is local, we buy our food whenever possible from local vendors and we use local catering services. That seems to be what local boards should do. However, we have three board members who for some reason voted negatively on this motion and the motion was defeated 3 to 3.

What I need from you is to know your feelings on where your money should go. I will bring these messages back to the board. As taxpayers you ought to have a say about where that money goes and I believe we need to elect board members who are more concerned about the Cloquet business community.

Having a chance to view this board meeting on CAT-7 would be beneficial. I would appreciate knowing what you would do if this decision was placed in your hands. You can email me at: engravableimages@cpinternet.com.

I respect and welcome whatever you can offer me.

Respectfully submitted,

Cloquet School Board Member Sandra Crowley

Tags: letters to the editor, opinion