[Speed Gibson,
Saturday April 8, 2006 at 1:12am]
Target Audience
Education Minnesota has launched its fall campaign, preceded by their survey/listening tour seeking our input. I notice that none of the input I provided made the list. No, we could have predicted their findings before they started.
The tone is what I find perplexing. Who is the target audience? Ads seek to change minds or buying habits. Who is going to change their mind about the public schools based on these ads? The DFL is already bought and paid for, not to mention a sizable portion of the GOP. Those more enlightened aren't buying a word of this. That leaves only the apathetic and uninformed, who have heard all of this before.
No, the target audience is the rank and file of Education Minnesota itself, to buck them up and make them happy to pay for a better Education Minnesota via dues.
And they need some bucking up. Nearly half of Minneapolis's potential kindergarten enrollment is going elsewhere. Referendums to increase school property taxes are no longer a mere formality. Tests scores in many suburban districts vary considerably, with many well below even modest expectations. And lately we read that 30 percent of Minnesota high school graduates need remedial work at Minnesota colleges.
Education Minnesota itself is part of teachers' problems, squeezing budgets to where non-payroll expenses for transportation, sports, books, and office supplies have been cut. (And these are real cuts.)
Don't forget: K-12 education is the fastest growing portion of a state budget that doubles about every 10-12 years.
The tone is what I find perplexing. Who is the target audience? Ads seek to change minds or buying habits. Who is going to change their mind about the public schools based on these ads? The DFL is already bought and paid for, not to mention a sizable portion of the GOP. Those more enlightened aren't buying a word of this. That leaves only the apathetic and uninformed, who have heard all of this before.
No, the target audience is the rank and file of Education Minnesota itself, to buck them up and make them happy to pay for a better Education Minnesota via dues.
And they need some bucking up. Nearly half of Minneapolis's potential kindergarten enrollment is going elsewhere. Referendums to increase school property taxes are no longer a mere formality. Tests scores in many suburban districts vary considerably, with many well below even modest expectations. And lately we read that 30 percent of Minnesota high school graduates need remedial work at Minnesota colleges.
Education Minnesota itself is part of teachers' problems, squeezing budgets to where non-payroll expenses for transportation, sports, books, and office supplies have been cut. (And these are real cuts.)
Don't forget: K-12 education is the fastest growing portion of a state budget that doubles about every 10-12 years.