Minnesota invested funding in new state program to provide student loan repayment assistance to teachers working in a shortage area. The application deadline for this year is June 30. The Minnesota Teacher Shortage Student Loan Repayment Program, established through legislation in 2015, aims to attract teachers to teach in Minnesota in designated shortage areas. Shortage areas include teacher licensure fields … Read More
Funding Approved: Early Learning, Concurrent Enrollment, Support Services
The Legislature passed a $182 million supplemental budget before the midnight deadline that included funding for early learning and several provisions requested by rural education interests. Early Learning The biggest piece of the E-12 pie is inclusion of a general education pre-K program with $25 million awarded in fiscal year ’17 to districts who apply and and meet certain criteria. A … Read More
Session Insight: Will Legislators Reach a Deal?
The 2016 legislative session must end three weeks from Monday and as expected we’re nowhere close to a grand bargain that would bring resolution to transportation, taxes, bonding and supplemental spending. This shouldn’t be a surprise as every legislative session sees the major issues pile up in partisan wrangling as we head down the stretch. View MREA’s complete side-by-side comparison of the legislative … Read More
Amendments of Interest Made in House, Senate Debates
Before the House and Senate approved their supplemental budget bills last week, a series of key amendments were made that impact P-12 education. MREA provided a brief overview of amendments of immediate interest below. View MREA’s complete side-by-side comparison of the legislative proposals. House Amendments Education Finance Chair Jennifer Loon (GOP Eden Prairie) added an amendment to increase the loan forgiveness program … Read More
Progress Update on MREA Platform Issues
The House and Senate are each bringing finance and policy proposals that MREA supports to end of session negotiations. Here’s a snapshot of some of the provisions, organized by the issues outlined on MREA’s 2016 legislative platform: Facility Fallout The House tax cut package contains an Agricultural school bond credit of 50 percent. MREA is in strong support of this … Read More
MREA Opens Call for Conference Presenters
MREA welcomes dynamic presenters to share best practices, solutions, and research at our 2016 Annual Conference: Making Teaching Matter. Expectations for today’s professional teachers are redesigning teaching and making it a more demanding profession. Research continues to demonstrate that great teaching is more important than ever to student achievement. Presenters will have the opportunity to positively impact more than 300 … Read More
National Teacher to Keynote “Making Teaching Matter”
Sarah Brown Wessling, National Teacher of the Year, has been selected as the keynote speaker for MREA’s 2016 Annual Conference. The conference will focus on the theme, “Making Teaching Matter.” It will be hosted November 13-15 at Cragun’s Resort near Brainerd. Why “Making Teaching Matter?” Expectations for today’s professional teachers have redesigned teaching and made it a more demanding profession. Research continues to … Read More
National Teacher to Keynote "Making Teaching Matter"
Sarah Brown Wessling, National Teacher of the Year, has been selected as the keynote speaker for MREA’s 2016 Annual Conference. The conference will focus the theme, “Making Teaching Matter.” It will be hosted November 13-15 at Cragun’s Resort near Brainerd. Why “Making Teaching Matter?” Expectations for today’s professional teachers have redesigned teaching and made it a more demanding profession. Research continues to demonstrate that … Read More
House Releases Budget, Senate to Follow
The House GOP released its E-12 target late last week with a focus on one-time funding. The Senate will follow with its plan this week. The House Plan The House proposal focuses on creating $53 million in one-time funding by offering favorable refinancing of facility debt for several Capital Loan districts. The plan assumes seven districts will take advantage of this … Read More
Governor’s Budget Focuses on Early Learning, Teacher Recruitment
The Governor’s Supplemental Budget focuses 95 percent of the $39 million in ongoing appropriations on early learning and teacher recruitment. The centerpiece is a $25-million voluntary, formula funded at .6 APU, 350 hours per year PreK program for four year olds. Next in line is a $12 million for teacher recruitment programs for teacher candidates from under-represented populations and para-professionals in … Read More