The Free Press, Mankato, MN

Editorials

March 15, 2006

Our View — Nursing home, early childhood plan has merit

editorial board

A plan to renovate a former nursing home into an early childhood lab school and save St. Peter schools money in the long run represents a good example of the kind thinking government needs in a do-more-with-less atmosphere.

Rep. Ruth Johnson, DFL-St. Peter, is asking the state for bonding money that would pay about half the $2.7 million cost of renovating the old nursing home attached to the old St. Peter Hospital, which has moved to a new location.

The building would house early childhood programs and special education programs of the St. Peter school district and thus alleviate a space crunch expected with upcoming kindergarten and elementary classes. The plan would free up 10 classrooms, seven at South Elementary and three at North Intermediate school.

Johnson will seek state bonding money in hopes the facility can be developed into a regional or statewide lab school to test academic theories on early childhood learning. The timing might be right for this kind of project. A growing body of research shows that investments made in early childhood education provide some of the highest returns of all government spending. High profile business groups have begun supporting such investments.

The proposal’s request for $1.35 million is relatively small given the governor and Legislature expect to approve a bonding bill that could be as much as $900 million. The center would meet the criteria of having statewide impact as an early childhood lab school.

The proposal also makes use of existing state assets to leverage the education dollar. The plan calls for possibly using the kindergarten education program at Gustavus Adolphus College and Minnesota State University’s well known early childhood programs.

Connecting university education programs with the real world will be a win-win situation. Finding an innovative way to take care of an enrollment bulge at St. Peter schools without investing in new buildings should be good for taxpayers.

While the Legislature should scrutinize the project like any other bonding project, this one deserves special recognition for the intergovernmental cooperation it represents, and the idea that two problems can be solved spending money once.

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