(EDITOR’S NOTE: The following article was submitted to the Patriot by the MNA (Minnesota Newspapers Association). 

Why it matters:  A plan before the Legislature would allow schools to reduce access to public notices.

A seemingly rushed plan to reduce public access to school public notices would strike a blow to transparency and the spirit of Minnesota open government if it passes through a conference committee at the Legislature.

The Senate-passed omnibus education bill (SF3567) would allow every school district in the state to pull the public notices from being widely distributed by newspapers and their websites to instead be posted on lightly trafficked and difficult-to-navigate school websites.

The Minnesota School Boards Association, located in St. Peter, has backed the bill in keeping with its long sought efforts to save schools a few thousand dollars a year in an effort that leaves millions of taxpayers without information needed for self-governance.

While newspapers could lose revenue if the plan is implemented, the larger issue is the public could lose user-friendly access to important notices like school board meeting minutes and financial statements. The Minnesota Newspaper Association is fighting the plan, saying it is “contrary to the spirit of transparency that underpins democracy.” The organization also says the plan has not been properly vetted by the Legislature.

The School Boards Association argues that newspapers have closed or reduced their reach over the years and that the plan to post on school websites will be cheaper and more effective in reaching constituents. But what it fails to point out is the reach of newspapers and their websites remains far higher than a school website.

The Free Press Facebook page, for example, has 27,000 followers while ISD 77 has 9,200 followers. While one cannot determine the traffic on the district’s website, The Free Press website has 10,000 users a day with about 75,000 page views a day and a total of about 2.5 million page views a month.

In a letter to members, MSBA Deputy Executive Director Gary Lee sent a two question survey to superintendents asking how much they spend a year on public notices – one district we know of spends only $4,000 – and what percentage of households its newspaper reaches – asking for an estimate.

Lee wrote the conference committee will be provided the survey results and “the window has been opened slightly.” We hope the conference committee doesn’t sacrifice transparency over information using an informal, non-factual survey and a few thousand dollars as an investment in public access.

The House passed-bill allows for a temporary exception for school districts whose newspapers have closed in the southwest metro area recently. That’s a reasonable approach and one the newspaper organization supports.

But reducing access to meeting minutes and financial statements cheats the taxpayers just as the Legislature made historically huge new investments in school funding last year.

We urge the local superintendents and their governing boards and the conference committee to reject the idea of reducing public access to public notices. .