The school super, Valeria Silva, and her school board chair, Jean O'Connell, met with editors of the Pioneer Press the other day to insist that the voters had best approve the levy request they are asking for in November because they find it to be necessary to close student achievement gaps. On board was Matt Kramer, president of the St. Paul Area Chamber of Commerce.

Kramer supports the operating levy increase, believing it to be important to developing the future employees of his chamber's members.

Voters are being asked to approve an $821.55-per-pupil levy, which folds a new $175-per-pupil increase into the existing $647-per-pupil levy. That would create an additional $133.5 million for the district's budget of $652 million a year.

The bottom line: Silva is touting something she calls the "Learning Transformed by Technology" plan. Well, that's what supers do -- they come up with plans and slogans and then get T-shirts printed that say "Vote Yes!"

"We're not talking about an iPad for every kid," Silva told the editors. "We want to harness technology in a way that allows kids to learn, in ways they learn well."

I'm afraid the bottom of that was not gotten to. What does that mean? I called Silva but she was in Boston attending a think tank sponsored by, I think, Yale and MIT. I left my name and number, and I am sure we are fated to talk one of these days.

There is little hard evidence, if any, according to critics, that technology investments pay dividends in academic achievement.


Well, as far as that goes, there is no evidence that money spent turns into academic success. That doesn't stop a good super from going after more moolah, because, as I have had it dawn on me, that's what supers do. They are rainmakers. They go after the dough. If supers were prizefighters and they got knocked out, the first thing they would say when the smelling salts were waved under their nose would be "More money, more money."

In stating their case, the Silva camp said technology in the classroom will allow teachers to better accommodate students' different learning styles, whether they respond best to visual, hands-on or other methods. I have no idea what that means, and that's why I called Silva for an explanation.

Also, "Instruction can better be personalized for those who need extra help, those on the other end of the spectrum who have mastered materials and are ready to move ahead and those in the middle."

The best part, or worst, I guess, if you are doing the paying: The district's plan includes a personalized learning platform that will place students, teachers and parents on the same page like never before. On student pages, it will store and crunch data on grades, attendance and discipline. It will allow kids and parents to keep track of assignments, revisit recorded lessons and connect with teachers and peers. Families will be able to access information on their cellphones.


I see Ferris Bueller hacking into the personalized learning platform to give himself an A in math, if they still have math and are not so consumed with peer-equity issues and whatever Silva will bring back from the latest think tank.

It is all gobbledygook, but I am sure that Silva and I will connect one of these days and she can explain this in ways that will make it understandable for those of us who are not only puzzled but wondering why a budget of around $652 million a year, or about $17,000 per student, is not enough.
