By Sam Walseth, MREA Lobbyist House E-12 Chairman Marquart wants a new accountability measure for school district academic performance. He isn’t asking for a new test, but in order to close the achievement gap and create “the world’s best workforce,” he is proposing a new section of law that would require school boards to set academic and other student performance … Read More
Last Week of Session: What to Expect
By Sam Walseth, MREA Lobbyist At midnight one week from Monday, the 2013 regular session must close. Legislative leaders worked over the weekend negotiating budget targets with each other and we expect that sometime today to see those targets. Conference committee targets are it. Once announced, there’s no going back. Whatever leadership announces is what the various conference committees have … Read More
MREA Announces Keynote for Annual Conference
MREA announced today that the 2013 Annual Conference will feature renowned North Carolina State Superintendent Mike Ward as the keynote. Ward, president of the Council of Chief State School Officers, will be speaking about “Why Good Enough is Not Good Enough Anymore” to help us connect our rural classrooms with the realities of competing in a global economy. The conference will … Read More
Omnibus Education Bills Pass
By Sam Walseth, MREA Chief Lobbyist After eight hours of debate on the House floor Tuesday night and eight hours of debate on the Senate floor Thursday afternoon, the omnibus education bills passed and are headed to a conference committee. There were several contentious issues during debate in both bodies, the most significant revolving around the repeal of the Math … Read More
Districts Face Tough Choices as K-12 Bills Reach Floor
By Vernae Hasbargen, MREA Lobbyist As the K-12 bills head to the floor, it is now clear where the similarities and differences are and for school districts, a tough choice – do you want dollars now or stability in the state’s funding system later? As you can see from the graphs, both bills reflect similar spending priorities when it comes to ADK … Read More
Quick Omnibus Bills Comparison for Educators
There is a lot of activity regarding policy and finance for K-12 education in Minnesota at the Legislature with the House and Senate omnibus bills heading to the floor. MREA provides a clear comparison of the House and Senate bills in these key areas: Funding: Targets, Basic Funding, Kindergarten, Early Childhood, Equity, Special Ed, Integration Taxes: ANTC Relief and Gen Ed … Read More
Measuring The Value of a High School Diploma
The omnibus education finance and policy bill (HF 630) is rumored to be debated on the House floor this Tuesday. In response to the MDE Assessment Work Group recommendations, the House majority has moved forward with a repeal of the GRAD exams and in their place is proposing a series of new assessments that better align with college entrance and give … Read More
MREA's Work with Schools on AIW Featured in News
MREA’s extensive project with five northern Minnesota school district on Authentic Intellectual Work (AIW) was featured this week in the Park Rapids Enterprise. A rigorous revamping of the way teachers teach and the way students learn has been quietly taking place in a small conference room at the Laporte School. Five teachers and two administrators have delved into an educational concept … Read More
MREA Responds to House Omnibus Bill 630
Note: These responses were crafted in response to the HF 630 delete all omnibus bills moved by Committee Chairs Representative Marquart. MREA made every attempt to track all the amendments, but this may not be all inclusive. You can track this bill online, but ignore the introductory version from February. MREA supports the direction and the implementation particulars of the following … Read More
Omnibus Education Bills Advance
At 11 pm on Thursday, the Senate E-12 committee put a close to what felt like a ramshackle day of unveiling, discussing, amending and finalizing their omnibus education bills. And yes, that was “bills” – plural. In the Senate The Senate has decided to move the policy reforms forward in a separate policy bill (SF 978) and a separate finance … Read More