Editorials

Dire financial times means making critical choices in how we educate our children.
The MACCRAY school district in west-central Minnesota has done just that with a proposal to move to a four-day school week next year to save busing and heating fuel.
The plan to cut Mondays from the school week and add an hour Tuesday through Friday will save about $65,000 from the district’s $7 million budget, mostly in transportation costs. The district also says it will set the thermostat in the school at 60 degrees when students are there to help save money.

That's why the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources must move quickly to investigate concerns about the handling of a convention for state conservation officers.
The state's chief CO, Col. Mike Hamm, and his wife, CO Capt. Cathy Hamm, were placed on paid administrative leave this week while an outside firm investigates their handling of the North America Wildlife Enforcement Officers Association conference conducted in July in Minnesota.

Lawmakers are wasting their constituents’ trust and money when they introduce bills they don’t intend on getting passed into law.
More than 8,000 bills were introduced at the Minnesota legislature this session. Less than 300 bills are likely to be sent to the governor.
The other 7,700 or so bills were introduced by lawmakers who were doing someone a favor with support of a cause or making a personal statement on a particular issues. Some of these bills were introduced despite the author's understanding that it would never get enough support from fellow lawmakers to move forward.

A campaign intended to lure more anglers to rivers and lakes in the state is probably a necessary effort to maintain funding for resource management. However, the costs of such a campaign must be reasonable.
Nationally, and across the state, people are less and less connected to and interested in nature, according to studies and surveys. In Minnesota, a smaller share of Minnesotans is buying fishing licenses and that translates into less money for natural resources management.
Fees generated by licenses and taxes on equipment provides money for fisheries management.

A cooperative effort has been successful in providing funding that will again offer visitors to the Rainy Lake portion of Voyageurs National Park a unique experience.
The park’s water-based wonders will be more visible to many visitors with the addition of a new 49-passenger tour boat expected to offer trips within the park by 2010.

Tom Sorel made a smart move in the first few days of his appointment as Minnesota’s newly appointed transportation commissioner.
Sorel accepted a recommendation that allows Koochiching County to designate a county state aid highway within the city limits and to prepare final construction plans for it without city approval.
The action, stemming from recommendations of a Minnesota Department of Transportation Dispute Resolution Board, means that the county may move forward with its plan to relocate the northern entrance of Minnesota Highway 332 about one mile east of its existing location.

The Minnesota walleye opener Saturday marks the first time many people get their boats in the water.
And while Borderland anglers are lucky enough to have early walleye and sturgeon seasons to wet their appetite for the coming season, most others are just now getting boats, rods and reels and other equipment ready.
Protecting the resource by taking steps to stop the transport of harmful invasive species from one lake or river to another should be an important part of our overall enjoyment of the open water season.

Lawmakers have put aside consideration of bills that would have impacted Minnesota walleye fishing.
And that’s OK — for now.
Bills that would have reduced walleye limits, set an earlier walleye opener and established a statewide slot limit have been pulled from the table.
In April, a Senate committee cut a proposal to lower from six to four the walleye bag limit from the omnibus environmental policy bill. The idea for the reduced bag limit came from the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources.

The University of Minnesota should take a lesson in tuition management from its cousin, the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities System.
Tuition and fees at the U would jump 9.5 percent under a threat by university officials. They say that if Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s budget proposal becomes reality, tuition and fees will increase from the 7.5 percent originally planned to 9.5 percent. Pawlenty’s proposal calls for a cut of $27.3 million to the school’s budget.

Compromise: An agreement or settlement of a dispute that is reached by each side making concessions.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty and legislative leaders must consider compromise as they attempt to reach a deal on the budget soon. Legislators have a little more than two weeks to wrap up the session.
At the least, it seems they are putting in some over time to get the job done. Pawlenty and leading lawmakers met behind closed doors Saturday and then Sunday on the budget. They broke for the night at about 11:30 p.m. Sunday.