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
MREA, Members Advocate on Bills for Para Program, Concurrent Enrollment and Mental Health Services
MREA and its members advocated for three key bills last week that would help address the increasing teacher shortage, respond to the Higher Learning Commission’s concurrent enrollment changes and provide enhanced mental health services. On overview of each bill is below. Para to Teacher Program The Senate E-12 Committee on Thursday heard a bill that would create pathway to be licensed in … Read More
Education Omnibus Bills Introduced: How They Compare
After three packed weeks of bill introductions and testimony, both the House and Senate Omnibus Education Policy Bills passed out of committee for their first deadline. HF 3066 DE and SF 2744 A5 are designed to include policy changes that do not have state-level cost impacts. View side-by-side comparison of bills. Some of the more significant proposed policy changes include: Personal … Read More
Bills of Interest Moving Through Legislature
MREA, together with its members, has been working to address a series of education issues via several smaller requests during this short session. Here’s a look at the key issues and their progress as the Legislature faces bill deadlines: Concurrent Enrollment The Higher Learning Commission announced last fall it would require concurrent enrollment teachers to have at least 18 graduate credits in their content … Read More
Bill Presented to Help Paras Receive Special Ed Licensure
The House Education Finance Committee on Wednesday heard a bill that would create pathway to be licensed in special education teaching for current paraprofessionals. HF3427 authored by Rep. Chris Swedzinski (R-Ghent), would establish a pilot project in partnership with Southwest Minnesota State University in Marshall, Minnesota, the surrounding school districts, and the Southwest-West Central Service Cooperative. This program would be available online, on evenings, … Read More
Guide to Overcoming Minnesota’s Teacher Crisis
How do we recruit and retain the teachers we need to prepare the World’s Best Workforce? This is an essential question for the next decade in Minnesota and across the nation. MREA released a report on Minnesota’s teacher crisis to provide background and guidance on the issue for policy makers, advocates and educational leaders. Download the guide below. MREA identifies these … Read More
Teacher Recruitment and Retention Becomes Key Issue at Legislature
“This is our No. 1 priority” is how Senate E-12 Education Committee Chair Charles Wiger characterized the nearly three hours of testimony Tuesday for eight bills addressing teacher recruitment and retention. “The Teacher Shortage Act” heard by the Senate last week included a variety of efforts to address the state’s teacher crisis and attract and retain quality teachers. SF2513, sponsored by … Read More
Auditor Report Coming on Teacher Licensure Process
The Office of Legislative Auditor (OLA) on March 4 will release a report on the Board of Teaching and Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) licensure process. Under current law, the BOT determines what qualifications teacher candidates need to receive a license and then applications are processed by MDE. These are the issues the OLA has been investigating and will report on: … Read More
MREA Members Approve 2016 Legislative Platform
MREA announced today its platform of the key education issues for the 2016 Legislative session. MREA members approved the platform at the annual business meeting on Nov. 16. The platform comes from months of grassroots input, research and reflection on how to keep us positioned to be effective in the legislative process. Anticipating that property tax reductions will be a … Read More
MREA Prepares for 2016 Legislative Session
MREA traveled the state through the fall and heard from Greater Minnesota schools. Now it’s time to focus our collective voice on behalf of rural students as the 2016 legislative session approaches. The MREA Board of directors recommends the following platform for member approval at the annual meeting at the 2015 MREA Annual Conference on Nov. 17. View the proposed platform. The proposed platform focuses … Read More