The Big Trunk has further coverage of the StarTribune's continued attack on op-eds by Cheri Pierson Yecke. Her article, based on her recent report published by the Center for the American Experiment, discusses how teachers and school administrators are making shady if not illegal use of public monies to support bigger school budgets and to stymie reforms. The article was offered first to the StarTribune but rejected because, according to Trunk, its statement of the deceptive presentation of the excess levy referendum in Crookston could not be verified. (The article ran in the PioneerPress instead.)

Since the STrib has trouble with Google, I thought I might take a hand at this. This took about a minute:

Jim Thorne, the school district's new business manager, said that the school district leadership would still have pursued the two referendum ballot questions on Nov. 2 even if they'd learned earlier of the "budget variance" that resulted in a positive balance of almost $500,000 instead of a projected deficit in the $500,000 range. As it turned out, the public didn't learn of the budget boost until after the approved Nov. 2 ballot questions, which has led some to question the timing of the positive budget development.

This article came out on December 7. I wonder how hard the STrib digs for its information. It apparently relies on Nick Coleman's skill set.