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
Bullying Debate on House Floor Monday
By Sam Walseth, MREA Lobbyist Anti-bullying legislation has been moving through the legislative process this session. Spurred forward by an interim task force sponsored by Governor Dayton, advocates for kids who have suffered from bullying behavior in school are pushing legislation that would requires school personnel to get trained on, report on and better manage bullying among students in their … 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
Session End Game Begins
By Sam Walseth, MREA Chief Lobbyist With three weeks to go until the end of session, the “end game” process is about to begin. This week conference committees will get together to walk through the various provisions in their respective budget and policy bills. Review MREA’s comparison of the the three major proposals. Meetings between legislative leaders and the Governor will … Read More
House K-12 Bill: Step in Right Direction
By Vernae Hasbargen, MREA Lobbyist As the House K-12 bill cleared the floor, its youngest representative, Joe Radinovich, commented, “After a decade of disinvestment, this bill will not solve everything, but it is a step in the right direction.” Radinovich was an 8th grader in Crosby-Ironton when his district faced its first round of budget cuts, and in the decade that followed, … 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
Paying for Budget Priorities
By Sam Walseth, MREA Chief Lobbyist House Tax committee members last week unveiled their plan to pay for their spending priorities. The bill raises income taxes on families earning more than $400,000 and singles earning more than $220,000. The new fourth tier income tax rate would go from 7.85% to 8.49%. Taxes on tobacco products would increase significantly including a new … 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
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