Quiet Day at the Legislature. New staff is still finding its way into place. A lot of old staff is moving around. The Capitol looks like a giant maze (and a few of us lobbyists are real rats so I suppose it fits). All in all, it makes for a slow first week of the 2015 legislative session.
The Legislature spent the day at the Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs participating in the "One Minnesota" program that was put together to look at issues that may be of particular interest during the 2015 legislative session. Below is a link to the conference. I will be curious to see if there will be video available for viewing at any time seeing that the conference was closed to the public.
Link: http://www.leg.state.mn.us/leg/minnesota/2015/
Things will pick up a bit tomorrow as the first bills of the session will be introduced in both the House and Senate. The Senate Education Committee will be holding a hearing where it will hear from a variety of stakeholders (including SEE) on their organizational priorities for the session. I will report on both of these items tomorrow.
Education in China. China has certainly been a white-hot subject of conversation over the past decade and part of the interest in China stems from their education system. Yang Zhao, a professor at the University of Oregon, has written an account of the Chinese education system entitled Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Dragon? Why China has the Best (and Worst) Education System in the World.
American educational historian and policy analyst Diane Ravitch reviewed the book in the November 20, 2014, issue of the New York Review of Books and uses the opportunity to criticize the Chinese system and the reforms undertaken in the United States that somewhat mimic the test-heavy Chinese system. I haven't read Zhao's book, but I found Ravitch's review interesting and it made me more likely to read the book at some juncture. I'll let you decide for yourself after reading the review,
Link: http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2014/nov/20/myth-chinese-super-schools/
I also found this article from last Sunday's New York Times Magazine about a test preparation camp in China. Very interesting.
Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/04/magazine/inside-a-chinese-test-prep-factory.html?ref=magazine&_r=0
Wednesday, January 07, 2015
Tuesday, January 06, 2015
And We're Off. Not much to report from the first day of the legislative session. The members of the House of Representatives were sworn in and the new Republican majority officially took over. Representative Kurt Daudt (R-Crown) was elected Speaker of the House in a pro forma vote, garnering all the votes from his Republican caucus (something that Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives John Boehner can't say). Daudt is one of the younger speakers in recent memory at age 41. He has solid conservative credentials, but has pledged to work with representatives of all viewpoints in order to have the session run smoothly and end on time. That may be easier said than done, as the House majority will certainly seek to make its mark and I'm relatively certain that their highest priorities don't mesh particularly well with those of the DFL Senate and Governor Dayton. Still, it's an appropriate time for optimism. There is a projected surplus, and while I wrote yesterday that this basically covers inflation and little else, there may be room for some needed reforms across state government.
As for the suggestion that the Legislature adjourn for the remainder of the biennium after the 2015 session, skipping the 2016 session altogether, I find it difficult to believe it will happen. It might not be a bad idea, given that the Capitol is undergoing a comprehensive renovation that will pretty much close down the entire building next year. But having watched the Legislature as long as I have, there will likely be things that won't get done this year and that would likely necessitate some type of session in 2016.
Here are a couple of stories on today's opening sessions from the local media:
StarTribune: http://www.startribune.com/politics/national/287618461.html
Pioneer Press: http://www.twincities.com/politics/ci_27265902/new-hands-at-wheel-minnesota-legislature-returns-duty
MPR: http://blogs.mprnews.org/capitol-view/2015/01/on-first-day-some-lawmakers-push-one-year-session/
US Congress Also Sworn in Today. The 114th Congress was sworn in as well today, with the Republicans now in control of both the House of Representatives and the Senate. It appears the Keystone XL Pipeline is the first thing on the docket and it is expected to: (1) gain fairly quick approval in Congress, and (2) get vetoed by the President unless the EPA's permitting process is honored in the final bill. It should make for an interesting two years.
What will be interesting from an education policy perspective is the renewal of Elementary Secondary Education Act (ESEA) and changes that will likely be made to the No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top during that process. Minnesota 2nd District Congressman John Kline (R-Burnsville) has been pushing a number of changes, but most of those changes wouldn't have made it to the President's desk when the Senate was controlled by the Democrats. Tennessee Republican Senator Lamar Alexander will now the chairing the corresponding committee in the Senate and he shares many of the same concerns as Kline. As with a lot of policy discussions that will take place over the next two years, it will be interesting to see if Congress and the President can reach an accord on the education issue. Congressman Kline has often talked about the Federal Government needing to make good on its promise to fund its share of special education costs and that is one area where an agreement between all parties would be welcome.
Here's an article from MinnPost on Kline's goals for the 114th Congress.
Link: http://www.minnpost.com/learning-curve/2015/01/kline-and-senate-ally-launching-new-push-nclb-overhaul-and-less-federal-overs
As for the suggestion that the Legislature adjourn for the remainder of the biennium after the 2015 session, skipping the 2016 session altogether, I find it difficult to believe it will happen. It might not be a bad idea, given that the Capitol is undergoing a comprehensive renovation that will pretty much close down the entire building next year. But having watched the Legislature as long as I have, there will likely be things that won't get done this year and that would likely necessitate some type of session in 2016.
Here are a couple of stories on today's opening sessions from the local media:
StarTribune: http://www.startribune.com/politics/national/287618461.html
Pioneer Press: http://www.twincities.com/politics/ci_27265902/new-hands-at-wheel-minnesota-legislature-returns-duty
MPR: http://blogs.mprnews.org/capitol-view/2015/01/on-first-day-some-lawmakers-push-one-year-session/
US Congress Also Sworn in Today. The 114th Congress was sworn in as well today, with the Republicans now in control of both the House of Representatives and the Senate. It appears the Keystone XL Pipeline is the first thing on the docket and it is expected to: (1) gain fairly quick approval in Congress, and (2) get vetoed by the President unless the EPA's permitting process is honored in the final bill. It should make for an interesting two years.
What will be interesting from an education policy perspective is the renewal of Elementary Secondary Education Act (ESEA) and changes that will likely be made to the No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top during that process. Minnesota 2nd District Congressman John Kline (R-Burnsville) has been pushing a number of changes, but most of those changes wouldn't have made it to the President's desk when the Senate was controlled by the Democrats. Tennessee Republican Senator Lamar Alexander will now the chairing the corresponding committee in the Senate and he shares many of the same concerns as Kline. As with a lot of policy discussions that will take place over the next two years, it will be interesting to see if Congress and the President can reach an accord on the education issue. Congressman Kline has often talked about the Federal Government needing to make good on its promise to fund its share of special education costs and that is one area where an agreement between all parties would be welcome.
Here's an article from MinnPost on Kline's goals for the 114th Congress.
Link: http://www.minnpost.com/learning-curve/2015/01/kline-and-senate-ally-launching-new-push-nclb-overhaul-and-less-federal-overs
Monday, January 05, 2015
On Your Mark. Get Set. It's not "Go" quite yet, but it will be in approximately 15 hours when the 2015-2016 biennium of the Minnesota Legislature begins. I stopped by the Capitol today and it was pretty quiet, with only a handful of legislators in the State Office Building (and most of them in the process of unpacking boxes and assembling their offices), but that will all change tomorrow.
It's difficult to know what to expect at this point. The majority in the Minnesota House has flipped back to the Republicans, but most everyone is saying the right things at this point (of course, the session hasn't started yet) and if everyone is to be taken at their word, the confrontation that took place between the legislature and the Governor in 2011 and resulted in a shutdown will be avoided. It's important to remember "government math," and in this case, the DFL has two legs of the stool and the Republicans one. That doesn't mean that the House Republicans will simply cave and let the DFL have its way, but it also means that they aren't going to run the table. This could be a year when a number of reform initiatives may take root. There's a lot to do across the board in the re-inventing government sense and it wouldn't surprise me if a number of proposals in that vein discussed thoroughly during the upcoming session.
The big news is the budget and while $1 billion sounds like a lot, it basically calculates to funding inflation over the biennium given that the biennial budget is projected to come in slightly over $40 billion given the expected growth in various parts of the budget. That doesn't mean that some of this growth won't be pared back and that the savings moved into other programs. Again, that story is yet to be written, but given the Governor's statement that he would like to put additional revenue into E-12 education to make Minnesota a "State of Educational Excellence" there is indeed a possibility of dollars being directed away from some expenditure categories to education-related programs.
A Lot Being Written About the Teaching Profession. The state of the teaching profession has come under increasing scrutiny over the past few years with the Vergara lawsuit in California and teacher evaluation programs being implemented in a number of states (including Minnesota). But legal and legislative action aren't the only indicators of interest in the topic.
Here is a link to a review of three books about the teaching profession that was published in the December 4, 2014, issue of the New York Review of Books. There's a ton of interesting nuggets in the review. I've got a copy of Dana Goldstein's "The Teacher Wars: A History of America's Most Embattled Profession," but I doubt I'll get a chance to read it until the session is over.
NYRB Link: http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2014/dec/04/why-american-teaching-so-bad/?insrc=whc
In a similar vein, I caught this story on National Public Radio's Marketplace show tonight about a new teacher training program in Baltimore, Maryland. While the program concentrates on prospective urban educators, the concept of "resident teachers" has been around in some form for awhile, but it has never been implemented on a wide scale at least to my knowledge. Anyway, here's the story.
Marketplace Link: http://www.marketplace.org/topics/education/training-urban-teachers-who-stay
It's difficult to know what to expect at this point. The majority in the Minnesota House has flipped back to the Republicans, but most everyone is saying the right things at this point (of course, the session hasn't started yet) and if everyone is to be taken at their word, the confrontation that took place between the legislature and the Governor in 2011 and resulted in a shutdown will be avoided. It's important to remember "government math," and in this case, the DFL has two legs of the stool and the Republicans one. That doesn't mean that the House Republicans will simply cave and let the DFL have its way, but it also means that they aren't going to run the table. This could be a year when a number of reform initiatives may take root. There's a lot to do across the board in the re-inventing government sense and it wouldn't surprise me if a number of proposals in that vein discussed thoroughly during the upcoming session.
The big news is the budget and while $1 billion sounds like a lot, it basically calculates to funding inflation over the biennium given that the biennial budget is projected to come in slightly over $40 billion given the expected growth in various parts of the budget. That doesn't mean that some of this growth won't be pared back and that the savings moved into other programs. Again, that story is yet to be written, but given the Governor's statement that he would like to put additional revenue into E-12 education to make Minnesota a "State of Educational Excellence" there is indeed a possibility of dollars being directed away from some expenditure categories to education-related programs.
A Lot Being Written About the Teaching Profession. The state of the teaching profession has come under increasing scrutiny over the past few years with the Vergara lawsuit in California and teacher evaluation programs being implemented in a number of states (including Minnesota). But legal and legislative action aren't the only indicators of interest in the topic.
Here is a link to a review of three books about the teaching profession that was published in the December 4, 2014, issue of the New York Review of Books. There's a ton of interesting nuggets in the review. I've got a copy of Dana Goldstein's "The Teacher Wars: A History of America's Most Embattled Profession," but I doubt I'll get a chance to read it until the session is over.
NYRB Link: http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2014/dec/04/why-american-teaching-so-bad/?insrc=whc
In a similar vein, I caught this story on National Public Radio's Marketplace show tonight about a new teacher training program in Baltimore, Maryland. While the program concentrates on prospective urban educators, the concept of "resident teachers" has been around in some form for awhile, but it has never been implemented on a wide scale at least to my knowledge. Anyway, here's the story.
Marketplace Link: http://www.marketplace.org/topics/education/training-urban-teachers-who-stay
Friday, September 05, 2014
Great Report. The Center for Rural Policy and Development based in St. Peter has done a wealth of wonderful research over the past couple of decades and their recent report on the state of rural Minnesota is certainly no exception to that pattern of excellence. Dr. Gregory Thorson has worked extremely hard over the years spelling out the plight of smaller rural districts and he has assembled a number of effective critiques on how the per pupil funding formula doesn't work for small rural districts, even with the additions of sparsity and small school funding.
Here is a link to the education portion of the Center for Rural Policy and Development's State of Rural Minnesota report that was just released:
Link: http://www.ruralmn.org/publications/education/
Here is the homepage for the organization: http://www.ruralmn.org/
Here is a link to the education portion of the Center for Rural Policy and Development's State of Rural Minnesota report that was just released:
Link: http://www.ruralmn.org/publications/education/
Here is the homepage for the organization: http://www.ruralmn.org/
Thursday, September 04, 2014
Good Article from the Mankato Free Press. With all the talk about the need for improved mental health and student support services in schools, there is still a shortage of trained personnel to fill the positions that are needed. This well-written article by Jessica Bies of the Mankato Free Press points out the challenges facing school districts as they try to provide these needed services.
Link: http://www.mankatofreepress.com/news/local_news/article_9cf94404-5c76-5f6c-b9fe-5f2daab8379a.html
Link: http://www.mankatofreepress.com/news/local_news/article_9cf94404-5c76-5f6c-b9fe-5f2daab8379a.html
Tuesday, September 02, 2014
Happy Day After Labor Day! Which means Happy First Day of School! It's always an exciting and hectic day and I'm sure transportation coordinators throughout the state are sleeping well tonight with a vast majority of any bugs out of the system and kids moved to and from school successfully.
The big news today is that approximately 60,000 students will be attending funded all-day/every day kindergarten today. It was hailed within a news story broadcast on Channel 5 news at 6 PM. Here is a link to that story: http://kstp.com/news/stories/S3548698.shtml?cat=127
Here's a synopsis of new initiatives in place this fall for school districts throughout the state: http://kstp.com/article/stories/S3548117.shtml?cat=12196
Another interesting story described changes in the Bloomington School District relating to school safety. Bloomington has invested heavily in new student safety equipment and has implemented new procedures. An expanded view of school safety is necessary in our increasingly complex world and kudos to Bloomington for beefing up their system. The article didn't specify how Bloomington paid for the upgrades, but enhanced school safety needs to be part of the discussion when the funding recommendations of the Facilities Funding Task Force are before the Legislature in 2015 (which is expected). I can't find the link to the story right now, but I will post it when I find it.
Career and Tech Education. Here's a link to a story from the British news magazine The Economist. It's a bit on the pricey side (approximately $150 for an annual subscription), but The Economist is one of the better news magazines out there. It's quite corporate-friendly, but it provides a pretty straight from the hip assessment of the international political scene.
Anyway, here's a link from last week's issue on the need for career and technical education.
Link: http://www.economist.com/news/business/21613279-retooling-vocational-education-got-skills
The big news today is that approximately 60,000 students will be attending funded all-day/every day kindergarten today. It was hailed within a news story broadcast on Channel 5 news at 6 PM. Here is a link to that story: http://kstp.com/news/stories/S3548698.shtml?cat=127
Here's a synopsis of new initiatives in place this fall for school districts throughout the state: http://kstp.com/article/stories/S3548117.shtml?cat=12196
Another interesting story described changes in the Bloomington School District relating to school safety. Bloomington has invested heavily in new student safety equipment and has implemented new procedures. An expanded view of school safety is necessary in our increasingly complex world and kudos to Bloomington for beefing up their system. The article didn't specify how Bloomington paid for the upgrades, but enhanced school safety needs to be part of the discussion when the funding recommendations of the Facilities Funding Task Force are before the Legislature in 2015 (which is expected). I can't find the link to the story right now, but I will post it when I find it.
Career and Tech Education. Here's a link to a story from the British news magazine The Economist. It's a bit on the pricey side (approximately $150 for an annual subscription), but The Economist is one of the better news magazines out there. It's quite corporate-friendly, but it provides a pretty straight from the hip assessment of the international political scene.
Anyway, here's a link from last week's issue on the need for career and technical education.
Link: http://www.economist.com/news/business/21613279-retooling-vocational-education-got-skills
Wednesday, August 13, 2014
Post-Primary Analysis. The August 12 primary passed and there doesn't appear to be too many surprises in the results. For the most part, endorsed candidates prevailed, with the major exception being the 1st Congressional District Republican primary, where Jim Hagedorn defeated endorsed candidate Aaron Miller. The Hagedorn name is a familiar one in Southern Minnesota Republican circles, as Jim's father Tom served in both the Minnesota and United States House of Representatives with his ten years of combined service. That name recognition, along with the endorsements from current and past legislators and Republican party officials in that part of the state undoubtedly made Hagedorn more formidable than your standard challenge to an endorsed candidate. Hagedorn's margin of victory was 54% to 46%.
The marquee race in the primary was that for the Republican gubernatorial place at the top of the ticket and endorsed candidate Jeff Johnson won the "race to 30%" and prevailed rather comfortably against his three challengers. The other main challengers--State Representative and former Speaker of the House Kurt Zellers, former State Representative and Minority Leader Marty Seifert, and Orono business owner Scott Honour all finished within three percentage points of each other, polling between 20.8 and 23.9 (Zellers 23.9%, Seifert 21.1%, and Honour 20.8%) of the vote. Johnson's final unofficial percentage was 30.3%.
I don't think the value of the endorsement can be understated in this race. Johnson remarked on Monday how important it was to have Republican volunteers and accurate lists of Republican voters available to him in order to target his supporters and get them to the polls. The value of the endorsement has been debated mightily over the years, but I believe this shows that in a race where no one is going to have a huge financial advantage or some other complicating factor related to the endorsed candidate, the endorsement takes on a lot of value.
One puzzling thing to me regarding the primary is that there were actually more votes cast in the more of less uncontested DFL gubernatorial primary (slightly more than 191,000) than in the contested Republican primary (just more than 184,000). It's always difficult to unpack primary results and the turnout this year in Minnesota was below 10% of eligible voters (proponents of an engaged populace may want to rethink moving the primary to August), but I found that surprising.
There were a number of hotly-contested legislative primaries. Here are short re-caps of these races:
The results of every race can be found at the Minnesota Secretary of State's website: http://electionresults.sos.state.mn.us/ENR/home/19
The marquee race in the primary was that for the Republican gubernatorial place at the top of the ticket and endorsed candidate Jeff Johnson won the "race to 30%" and prevailed rather comfortably against his three challengers. The other main challengers--State Representative and former Speaker of the House Kurt Zellers, former State Representative and Minority Leader Marty Seifert, and Orono business owner Scott Honour all finished within three percentage points of each other, polling between 20.8 and 23.9 (Zellers 23.9%, Seifert 21.1%, and Honour 20.8%) of the vote. Johnson's final unofficial percentage was 30.3%.
I don't think the value of the endorsement can be understated in this race. Johnson remarked on Monday how important it was to have Republican volunteers and accurate lists of Republican voters available to him in order to target his supporters and get them to the polls. The value of the endorsement has been debated mightily over the years, but I believe this shows that in a race where no one is going to have a huge financial advantage or some other complicating factor related to the endorsed candidate, the endorsement takes on a lot of value.
One puzzling thing to me regarding the primary is that there were actually more votes cast in the more of less uncontested DFL gubernatorial primary (slightly more than 191,000) than in the contested Republican primary (just more than 184,000). It's always difficult to unpack primary results and the turnout this year in Minnesota was below 10% of eligible voters (proponents of an engaged populace may want to rethink moving the primary to August), but I found that surprising.
There were a number of hotly-contested legislative primaries. Here are short re-caps of these races:
- The race with the highest profile featured 21-term State Representative Phyllis Kahn facing Minneapolis School Board member Mohamud Noor. Kahn won the race, garnering 54% of the vote to Noor's 46%. This was a race that was hot from the beginning as the endorsing convention surprisingly did not endorse a long-term incumbent.
- Waconia Mayor Jim Nash defeated Norwood-Young America business owner Bob Frey in the District 47A Republican primary by a margin of 59% to 41%. There was no endorsement in this race (although Nash came close to getting the endorsement at the district convention).
- Dayton City Council member Eric Lucero defeated St. Michael City Council member Kevin Kasel 64% to 36% in the District 30B Republican primary. Lucero was the endorsed candidate ousting sitting Representative David Fitzsimmons, largely based on Fitzsimmons' vote to legalize gay marriage, at the endorsing convention earlier this year.
- Incumbent State Representative Jennifer Loon of Eden Prairie won the District 48B Republican primary by a 61% to 39% count against challenger Sheila Kihne. The gay marriage vote of 2013 also played a role in this race. Like Representative Fitsimmons, Representative Loon voted to legalize gay marriage and was denied endorsement at the endorsing convention. But unlike Fitzsimmons, Loon was able to prevent the endorsement of her opponent, which certainly helped her cause.
The results of every race can be found at the Minnesota Secretary of State's website: http://electionresults.sos.state.mn.us/ENR/home/19
Friday, August 01, 2014
Common Core Stuff. Hard to know what to call the headline because the Common Core kerfuffle hasn't really hit Minnesota as hard as it has in other parts of the country. That's not to say the debate has not shown up in Minnesota and I believe that discussion of the Common Core will find its way into the debate during the 2015 legislative session regardless of how the elections turn out. Minnesota has only adopted a portion of the Common Core standards (Minnesota's math standards are considered to go beyond the Common Core) and perhaps that is why there hasn't been more discussion of the initiative in Minnesota, but there is a group--Minnesotans Against Common Core--that is holding meetings throughout the state outlining their concerns.
Minnesotans Against Common Core: http://commoncoremn.com/
The group is holding sessions throughout the state and you may want to sit in on one just to get a feel of the debate from their angle.
Nationally, the discussion of the Common Core has taken on a much higher profile and is showing up as an issue in gubernatorial and legislative races. The biggest drama is taking place in Louisiana, where a group of parents and the Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education sued the state to keep the Common Core standards in place in Louisiana after Governor Bobby Jindal froze the testing contract related to the Common Core standards. Jindal contended that the Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education had overstepped its bounds in the matter. A group of parents then sued Jindal for supposedly overstepping his bounds. The parents were then joined by the Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, which approved its participation on a 6-4 vote. Should make for an interesting lawsuit because the issue is as much about who has the authority to "do what" or "stop what" within their constitutional powers.
Anyway, here are a couple of articles about the case:
Louisiana Story #1: http://www.nola.com/education/index.ssf/2014/07/pro-common_core_groups_file_su.html
Louisiana Story #2: http://www.nola.com/education/index.ssf/2014/07/bese_votes_to_join_common_core.html
The Ohio Legislature introduced legislation last week to pull Ohio out of the Common Core standards. Here is a link to the news story on that move.
Ohio Story: http://www.thenews-messenger.com/story/news/local/2014/07/28/ohio-house-leaders-move-repeal-common-core/13300155/
It's hard to know what to make of the debate. I've lived through so many standards discussions over the years that I get fatigued just thinking about it. Having survived the discussion over the establishment and implementation of the Profiles of Learning and their subsequent repeal, I don't know if I can survive another round. Right now, the Common Core only governs mathematics and English Language Arts, but opponents believe the standards will go much further in the future and create a national curriculum. Curricular content is always the third rail in these debates and while standards don't in and of themselves strictly govern content, it is still a touchy subject.
Here's an essay from the conservative magazine The Weekly Standard that sums up both the perceived pros and cons (with a fairly cynical--but not entirely inaccurate--assessment of education reform in general) of the Common Core initiative.
The Weekly Standard article: http://www.weeklystandard.com/articles/common-core-commotion_796394.html
Last, but not least, conservative commentator Glenn Beck put together a live event that was held on July 22 entitled "We Will Not Conform" that outlines his--and other commentators--opposition to the Common Core. Unfortunately, I missed the event (and the replay), but here is a link to it. I don't know if video or audio of the event will ever be available online.
Link: http://wewillnotconform.com/
So that's all I've got to say on the subject. While it hasn't hit the public imagination as aggressively in Minnesota as it has in other parts of the country, like I said earlier, I believe it will be discussed during the 2015 legislative session, so the standard I would set for everyone interested in the discussion of public education--both pro and con vis-a-vis the Common Core--is to study up on it.
Opening for a Principal. Rockford Superintendent Paul Durand informed me last week that he is seeking applications for a high school principal. Here is a link to the Rockford webpage if you are personally interested in the position or have a possible candidate for the district to consider:
Link: http://district.rockford.k12.mn.us/modules/cms/announce.phtml?sessionid=f0b6f5e57907260f0198d9287490dfe9&t
Minnesotans Against Common Core: http://commoncoremn.com/
The group is holding sessions throughout the state and you may want to sit in on one just to get a feel of the debate from their angle.
Nationally, the discussion of the Common Core has taken on a much higher profile and is showing up as an issue in gubernatorial and legislative races. The biggest drama is taking place in Louisiana, where a group of parents and the Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education sued the state to keep the Common Core standards in place in Louisiana after Governor Bobby Jindal froze the testing contract related to the Common Core standards. Jindal contended that the Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education had overstepped its bounds in the matter. A group of parents then sued Jindal for supposedly overstepping his bounds. The parents were then joined by the Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, which approved its participation on a 6-4 vote. Should make for an interesting lawsuit because the issue is as much about who has the authority to "do what" or "stop what" within their constitutional powers.
Anyway, here are a couple of articles about the case:
Louisiana Story #1: http://www.nola.com/education/index.ssf/2014/07/pro-common_core_groups_file_su.html
Louisiana Story #2: http://www.nola.com/education/index.ssf/2014/07/bese_votes_to_join_common_core.html
The Ohio Legislature introduced legislation last week to pull Ohio out of the Common Core standards. Here is a link to the news story on that move.
Ohio Story: http://www.thenews-messenger.com/story/news/local/2014/07/28/ohio-house-leaders-move-repeal-common-core/13300155/
It's hard to know what to make of the debate. I've lived through so many standards discussions over the years that I get fatigued just thinking about it. Having survived the discussion over the establishment and implementation of the Profiles of Learning and their subsequent repeal, I don't know if I can survive another round. Right now, the Common Core only governs mathematics and English Language Arts, but opponents believe the standards will go much further in the future and create a national curriculum. Curricular content is always the third rail in these debates and while standards don't in and of themselves strictly govern content, it is still a touchy subject.
Here's an essay from the conservative magazine The Weekly Standard that sums up both the perceived pros and cons (with a fairly cynical--but not entirely inaccurate--assessment of education reform in general) of the Common Core initiative.
The Weekly Standard article: http://www.weeklystandard.com/articles/common-core-commotion_796394.html
Last, but not least, conservative commentator Glenn Beck put together a live event that was held on July 22 entitled "We Will Not Conform" that outlines his--and other commentators--opposition to the Common Core. Unfortunately, I missed the event (and the replay), but here is a link to it. I don't know if video or audio of the event will ever be available online.
Link: http://wewillnotconform.com/
So that's all I've got to say on the subject. While it hasn't hit the public imagination as aggressively in Minnesota as it has in other parts of the country, like I said earlier, I believe it will be discussed during the 2015 legislative session, so the standard I would set for everyone interested in the discussion of public education--both pro and con vis-a-vis the Common Core--is to study up on it.
Opening for a Principal. Rockford Superintendent Paul Durand informed me last week that he is seeking applications for a high school principal. Here is a link to the Rockford webpage if you are personally interested in the position or have a possible candidate for the district to consider:
Link: http://district.rockford.k12.mn.us/modules/cms/announce.phtml?sessionid=f0b6f5e57907260f0198d9287490dfe9&t
Thursday, July 17, 2014
Feudin' on the Reform Front. In the wake of the ruling in the Vergara case in California and the filing of a similar case in New York City, the temperature surrounding the education reform debate--especially as it relates to teacher tenure in staffing decisions--is heating up a bit. Well, actually more than a bit as evidenced by this article by Jonathan Chait in The Daily Intelligencer. The latest kerfuffle and resulting Twitter war surrounds comments by Dr. Diane Ravitch regarding former CNN anchor Campbell Brown, who is now involved in efforts to revamp teacher tenure laws.
I'll just link the article and let everyone form their own opinion about Ravitch's comments and the charges and counter-charges that emerged after those comments. Chait admits that he has a bias in the debate (his wife wrote the recently-issued report by the Center for American Progress outlining how difficult it can be to get rid of ineffective teachers) and, as a result, his comments border on snarky at some junctures. That's not to say that his points aren't without merit (but again, Ravitch's points have merit as well).
New York Magazine Daily Intelligencer article: http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2014/07/ravitch-campbell-brown-too-pretty-to-be-smart.html
Here is a link to the report cited in the article from the Center for American Progress: http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/education/report/2010/03/10/7525/removing-chronically-ineffective-teachers/
Reichgott on Charter Schools. Former State Senator Ember Reichgott, the chief author of Minnesota's charter school legislation passed in 1991 (the first charter school law in the nation) has been travelling the country for the past year-and-a-half talking about charter school laws throughout the country (and probably promoting her book "Zero Chance of Passage: The Pioneering Charter School Story) and working to confront issues that are cropping up in the discussion surrounding charter schools.
Beth Hawkins published this article in today's MinnPost in which former Senator Reichgott Junge talks about some of the charges that charter school opponents raise in the discussion about charter school achievement and whether or not charter schools are a threat to traditional public schools. In reading the article, I was glad to see that Reichgott Junge didn't invoke the "parents are more satisfied with their choice" line that drives me up a wall. Maybe it's just me, but satisfaction alone should account for much of anything if enhancing achievement and fostering innovation are the goals of the program. It's like someone going on a high-fat, high-sodium diet which would likely result in health issues going to the doctor and saying "Hey, I was really satisfied with that diet!"
Anyway, here is the link to the article: http://www.minnpost.com/learning-curve/2014/07/ember-reichgott-junge-confronts-seven-myths-and-misconceptions-about-charter-
And here is a link to Reichgott Junge's book: http://www.amazon.com/Zero-Chance-Passage-Pioneering-Charter/dp/1592984762
Another Interesting Study. The one really great thing about the non-session pace of business is the fact that I get to dive into articles and studies that add new perspectives to my thinking. Governing magazine published this article today about a Johns Hopkins University study released in June that certainly adds credence to the points of many who contend the discussion of achievement and the achievement gap go well beyond what happens in schools. I mentioned Diane Ravitch earlier in this entry, but she, like many others, point out the difficulties experienced by many families throughout the country, especially poorer families in urban areas, and how those difficulties contribute to educational deficits. The study zeroes in on the issue of affordable housing and how affordable housing helps provide families stability and this stability then shows up in higher test scores by students in these families. For the most part, the findings are self-evident, but it is always helpful when data is provided that shows that the issues surrounding achievement are about more than simply schools and school structure.
Governing article: http://www.governing.com/topics/health-human-services/gov-affordable-housing-equals-smarter-kids.html
Johns Hopkins link: http://releases.jhu.edu/2014/06/09/affordable-housing-linked-to-childrens-intellectual-ability/
I'll just link the article and let everyone form their own opinion about Ravitch's comments and the charges and counter-charges that emerged after those comments. Chait admits that he has a bias in the debate (his wife wrote the recently-issued report by the Center for American Progress outlining how difficult it can be to get rid of ineffective teachers) and, as a result, his comments border on snarky at some junctures. That's not to say that his points aren't without merit (but again, Ravitch's points have merit as well).
New York Magazine Daily Intelligencer article: http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2014/07/ravitch-campbell-brown-too-pretty-to-be-smart.html
Here is a link to the report cited in the article from the Center for American Progress: http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/education/report/2010/03/10/7525/removing-chronically-ineffective-teachers/
Reichgott on Charter Schools. Former State Senator Ember Reichgott, the chief author of Minnesota's charter school legislation passed in 1991 (the first charter school law in the nation) has been travelling the country for the past year-and-a-half talking about charter school laws throughout the country (and probably promoting her book "Zero Chance of Passage: The Pioneering Charter School Story) and working to confront issues that are cropping up in the discussion surrounding charter schools.
Beth Hawkins published this article in today's MinnPost in which former Senator Reichgott Junge talks about some of the charges that charter school opponents raise in the discussion about charter school achievement and whether or not charter schools are a threat to traditional public schools. In reading the article, I was glad to see that Reichgott Junge didn't invoke the "parents are more satisfied with their choice" line that drives me up a wall. Maybe it's just me, but satisfaction alone should account for much of anything if enhancing achievement and fostering innovation are the goals of the program. It's like someone going on a high-fat, high-sodium diet which would likely result in health issues going to the doctor and saying "Hey, I was really satisfied with that diet!"
Anyway, here is the link to the article: http://www.minnpost.com/learning-curve/2014/07/ember-reichgott-junge-confronts-seven-myths-and-misconceptions-about-charter-
And here is a link to Reichgott Junge's book: http://www.amazon.com/Zero-Chance-Passage-Pioneering-Charter/dp/1592984762
Another Interesting Study. The one really great thing about the non-session pace of business is the fact that I get to dive into articles and studies that add new perspectives to my thinking. Governing magazine published this article today about a Johns Hopkins University study released in June that certainly adds credence to the points of many who contend the discussion of achievement and the achievement gap go well beyond what happens in schools. I mentioned Diane Ravitch earlier in this entry, but she, like many others, point out the difficulties experienced by many families throughout the country, especially poorer families in urban areas, and how those difficulties contribute to educational deficits. The study zeroes in on the issue of affordable housing and how affordable housing helps provide families stability and this stability then shows up in higher test scores by students in these families. For the most part, the findings are self-evident, but it is always helpful when data is provided that shows that the issues surrounding achievement are about more than simply schools and school structure.
Governing article: http://www.governing.com/topics/health-human-services/gov-affordable-housing-equals-smarter-kids.html
Johns Hopkins link: http://releases.jhu.edu/2014/06/09/affordable-housing-linked-to-childrens-intellectual-ability/
Tuesday, July 08, 2014
Next Set of Ripples from the Vergara Case. When I first read a headline about the Vergara case, I thought "Who is suing Sofia Vergara? I mean, Machete Kills was a lousy movie, but she wasn't that bad in it." Imagine my surprise when I found out that the case was all about changing teacher tenure laws in California.
Seriously, for those of you who are not familiar with the case, a Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge ruled early in June that California's teacher tenure laws are unconstitutional because they disproportionately affected poor and minority students in a negative way and prevented them from receiving a quality education. Judge Rolf Treu did not mince words in his decision, stating that the tenure laws "impose a real and appreciable impact on students' right to a quality education. The evidence is compelling. Indeed, it shocks the conscience."
Reaction to the case has been palpable and has fallen upon predictable lines. A number of the more strident organizations seeking broad reform of the nation's K-12 system. Included among the voices embracing the decision, albeit slightly less aggressively, is United States Secretary of Education Arne Duncan (which has earned him the wrath of national teacher organizations).
A number of other education interests, particularly state and national teachers organizations are decrying the decision, but couching their language in terms that is sympathetic to the students and families who brought the case with the assistance of Students Matter, a California-based education advocacy organization founded by high tech entrepreneur David Welch.
Implementation of a new system has been stayed until all appeals are exhausted and the defendants in the case have every intention of appealing the case. That delay has not stalled efforts on the part of a number of reformers to seize the momentum and a similar case was filed in New York last week.
One of the interesting aspects that has not been reported is that it was funding equity litigation in California (Serrano v. Priest, 1971) which was first filed in 1968 and subsequently unleashed a wave equity lawsuits nationally, including the lawsuit--Van Dusartz v. Hatfield--that brought about the Minnesota Miracle. They say as "Maine goes, so goes the nation," but it appears that California is the stepping off point for broad-ranging litigation on education issues. Given that repeal of "last in/first out" was passed by the Minnesota Legislature in 2012 (and vetoed by Governor Dayton), there may be interest in pursuing litigation in a similar vein as Vergara in Minnesota.
Here are a veritable plethora of links on the Vergara case and the recently-filed case in New York.
Los Angeles Times on Vergara: http://www.latimes.com/local/education/la-me-teacher-lawsuit-20140611-story.html#page=1
Arne Duncan Statement on Vergara: http://www.ed.gov/news/press-releases/statement-us-secretary-education-arne-duncan-regarding-decision-vergara-v-califo
Students Matter Website (with timeline on court case): http://studentsmatter.org/
AFT President Randi Weingarten statement on Vergara: http://www.ed.gov/news/press-releases/statement-us-secretary-education-arne-duncan-regarding-decision-vergara-v-califo
AFT President Randi Weingarten on Arne Duncan's Vergara Statement: in Washington Post: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2014/06/12/afts-weingarten-smacks-arne-duncan-about-his-praise-for-vergara-decision/
MinnPost article on likelihood of "Vergara in Minnesota": http://www.minnpost.com/learning-curve/2014/06/could-californias-teacher-tenure-lawsuit-come-minnesota
MinnPost interview with EM President Denise Sprecht: http://www.minnpost.com/learning-curve/2014/06/minnesota-schools-teacher-tenure-really-problem
New York Times article on Similar lawsuit in New York City: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/04/nyregion/lawsuit-contests-new-yorks-teacher-tenure-laws.html?_r=0
New York City Parents Union: Organization supporting the plaintiffs in New York City case:: http://www.nycparentsunion.org/
Seriously, for those of you who are not familiar with the case, a Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge ruled early in June that California's teacher tenure laws are unconstitutional because they disproportionately affected poor and minority students in a negative way and prevented them from receiving a quality education. Judge Rolf Treu did not mince words in his decision, stating that the tenure laws "impose a real and appreciable impact on students' right to a quality education. The evidence is compelling. Indeed, it shocks the conscience."
Reaction to the case has been palpable and has fallen upon predictable lines. A number of the more strident organizations seeking broad reform of the nation's K-12 system. Included among the voices embracing the decision, albeit slightly less aggressively, is United States Secretary of Education Arne Duncan (which has earned him the wrath of national teacher organizations).
A number of other education interests, particularly state and national teachers organizations are decrying the decision, but couching their language in terms that is sympathetic to the students and families who brought the case with the assistance of Students Matter, a California-based education advocacy organization founded by high tech entrepreneur David Welch.
Implementation of a new system has been stayed until all appeals are exhausted and the defendants in the case have every intention of appealing the case. That delay has not stalled efforts on the part of a number of reformers to seize the momentum and a similar case was filed in New York last week.
One of the interesting aspects that has not been reported is that it was funding equity litigation in California (Serrano v. Priest, 1971) which was first filed in 1968 and subsequently unleashed a wave equity lawsuits nationally, including the lawsuit--Van Dusartz v. Hatfield--that brought about the Minnesota Miracle. They say as "Maine goes, so goes the nation," but it appears that California is the stepping off point for broad-ranging litigation on education issues. Given that repeal of "last in/first out" was passed by the Minnesota Legislature in 2012 (and vetoed by Governor Dayton), there may be interest in pursuing litigation in a similar vein as Vergara in Minnesota.
Here are a veritable plethora of links on the Vergara case and the recently-filed case in New York.
Los Angeles Times on Vergara: http://www.latimes.com/local/education/la-me-teacher-lawsuit-20140611-story.html#page=1
Arne Duncan Statement on Vergara: http://www.ed.gov/news/press-releases/statement-us-secretary-education-arne-duncan-regarding-decision-vergara-v-califo
Students Matter Website (with timeline on court case): http://studentsmatter.org/
AFT President Randi Weingarten statement on Vergara: http://www.ed.gov/news/press-releases/statement-us-secretary-education-arne-duncan-regarding-decision-vergara-v-califo
AFT President Randi Weingarten on Arne Duncan's Vergara Statement: in Washington Post: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2014/06/12/afts-weingarten-smacks-arne-duncan-about-his-praise-for-vergara-decision/
MinnPost article on likelihood of "Vergara in Minnesota": http://www.minnpost.com/learning-curve/2014/06/could-californias-teacher-tenure-lawsuit-come-minnesota
MinnPost interview with EM President Denise Sprecht: http://www.minnpost.com/learning-curve/2014/06/minnesota-schools-teacher-tenure-really-problem
New York Times article on Similar lawsuit in New York City: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/04/nyregion/lawsuit-contests-new-yorks-teacher-tenure-laws.html?_r=0
New York City Parents Union: Organization supporting the plaintiffs in New York City case:: http://www.nycparentsunion.org/
Tuesday, July 01, 2014
Interesting Thought Experiment. Although I don't always agree with its perspective (especially on matters of business and finance), I truly value my subscription to The Economist. In my more cynical moments, I've always believed that if we successfully taught critical thinking to students and gave everyone a subscription to The New York Times and The Economist, the rest of the news media would go out of business. But that's not where we're at, so onward we go.
When I was paging through a recent issue of The Economist, I came across this article and thought it would make a great thought experiment. It seems that Great Britain's education secretary Michael Gove is a bit outspoken and is speaking outside the realm of his office, causing some problems for British Prime Minister David Cameron. It doesn't appear he's reached the level of mad-quotability of Martha Mitchell (anyone under 55 is probably going to have to hit Wikipedia for the tortured relevance of that reference), but that's not the angle of the article that piqued my interest.
If you head to the fourth paragraph and erase all the names, you'll find the discussion strikingly similar to the discussion we are having in the United States surrounding education reform initiatives. Higher standards, school choice, and criticism of unions is all there reminiscent of the discussion currently taking place on this side of the Atlantic.
Even in his wildest moments, I doubt United States Education Secretary Arne Duncan would wander into as many verbal thickets as Gove seems to with regularity, but Duncan does sidle up close to some of the territory Gove has staked out in his attempt to reform British education.
Anyway, make your own judgments and if you have $150 lying around, I strongly recommend a subscription to The Economist.
Article on British education secretary Michael Gove in The Economist: http://www.economist.com/news/britain/21604179-tory-education-secretary-stirs-strong-feelings-largely-his-credit-michael-gove
PS--Here's another link on the debate over British education reform policies that was published at The Economist's website shortly after the article linked above: http://www.economist.com/blogs/blighty/2014/06/education-reform-1?zid=316&ah=2f6fb672faf113fdd3b11cd1b1bf8a77
When I was paging through a recent issue of The Economist, I came across this article and thought it would make a great thought experiment. It seems that Great Britain's education secretary Michael Gove is a bit outspoken and is speaking outside the realm of his office, causing some problems for British Prime Minister David Cameron. It doesn't appear he's reached the level of mad-quotability of Martha Mitchell (anyone under 55 is probably going to have to hit Wikipedia for the tortured relevance of that reference), but that's not the angle of the article that piqued my interest.
If you head to the fourth paragraph and erase all the names, you'll find the discussion strikingly similar to the discussion we are having in the United States surrounding education reform initiatives. Higher standards, school choice, and criticism of unions is all there reminiscent of the discussion currently taking place on this side of the Atlantic.
Even in his wildest moments, I doubt United States Education Secretary Arne Duncan would wander into as many verbal thickets as Gove seems to with regularity, but Duncan does sidle up close to some of the territory Gove has staked out in his attempt to reform British education.
Anyway, make your own judgments and if you have $150 lying around, I strongly recommend a subscription to The Economist.
Article on British education secretary Michael Gove in The Economist: http://www.economist.com/news/britain/21604179-tory-education-secretary-stirs-strong-feelings-largely-his-credit-michael-gove
PS--Here's another link on the debate over British education reform policies that was published at The Economist's website shortly after the article linked above: http://www.economist.com/blogs/blighty/2014/06/education-reform-1?zid=316&ah=2f6fb672faf113fdd3b11cd1b1bf8a77
Thursday, June 26, 2014
A Book that is Making News. A book that hit the market last fall is stirring up a lot of discussion. The Public School Advantage: Why Public Schools Outperform Private Schools by husband and wife team Drs. Christopher and Sarah Theule Lubienski is a comparative statistical analysis of academic performance at traditional public schools, charter schools, and private schools. The book also contains discussion of existing voucher programs.
What the research underpinning the book shows is that while raw numbers show that private school students score better on standardized tests, when controls for demographic differences are taken into account, public schools actually outperform private schools. Needless to say, the results have caused a bit of a firestorm in the education reform community, especially from those quarters that stress greater reliance on market-driven reform.
Here is a link to the book, published by the University of Chicago Press, along with two reviews, one positive and one negative.
Link: http://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/P/bo16956223.html
Positive Review: http://www.oregonlive.com/books/index.ssf/2014/02/the_public_school_advantage_th.html
Negative Review: http://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/yes-private-schools-beat-public-schools
Interview with the Lubienski's from The Atlantic: http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2013/10/are-private-schools-worth-it/280693/
This book is going to be on my summer reading list, so I can't give you my own review, but the negative review from National Review (online) by Jason Bedrick hits my main nerve in the discussion of school performance and that is the use of the term "efficiency" and how private schools are more "efficient" in delivering education and having students reach educational outcomes. It is difficult to paint with a broad brush here. There may be private schools that are more efficient and private schools that are less efficient than public schools, but is efficiency the primary goal of the education system? I highly doubt that exclusive private schools compare favorably in terms of efficiency. They charge outlandish tuition and use that tuition to keep class sizes extremely low.
I'll let you know my opinion after I finish reading the book.
What the research underpinning the book shows is that while raw numbers show that private school students score better on standardized tests, when controls for demographic differences are taken into account, public schools actually outperform private schools. Needless to say, the results have caused a bit of a firestorm in the education reform community, especially from those quarters that stress greater reliance on market-driven reform.
Here is a link to the book, published by the University of Chicago Press, along with two reviews, one positive and one negative.
Link: http://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/P/bo16956223.html
Positive Review: http://www.oregonlive.com/books/index.ssf/2014/02/the_public_school_advantage_th.html
Negative Review: http://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/yes-private-schools-beat-public-schools
Interview with the Lubienski's from The Atlantic: http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2013/10/are-private-schools-worth-it/280693/
This book is going to be on my summer reading list, so I can't give you my own review, but the negative review from National Review (online) by Jason Bedrick hits my main nerve in the discussion of school performance and that is the use of the term "efficiency" and how private schools are more "efficient" in delivering education and having students reach educational outcomes. It is difficult to paint with a broad brush here. There may be private schools that are more efficient and private schools that are less efficient than public schools, but is efficiency the primary goal of the education system? I highly doubt that exclusive private schools compare favorably in terms of efficiency. They charge outlandish tuition and use that tuition to keep class sizes extremely low.
I'll let you know my opinion after I finish reading the book.
Wednesday, June 25, 2014
Politics, Politics, Politics. Filings for statewide office ended earlier this month and the preliminary collection of candidates for all statewide, congressional district, and Minnesota House of Representatives races is set. The list of candidates can be found at the Minnesota Secretary of State's website and I have supplied a link to that site below. You can find the candidates for each race and websites of candidates who have furnished them are available.
Minnesota Secretary of State Election Website: http://candidates.sos.state.mn.us/
The primary will be held on Tuesday, August 12, 2014, with the Republican primary for Governor, which features four candidates, will be the headline event that day. There are some very interesting Republican primaries for the House of Representatives and a lion's share of those contests are being held in legislative districts where SEE member school districts are located. Looking through the list, I see three races that I will be watching closely. They are:
The highest profile primary contest on the DFL side of the ledger features 42-year legislative veteran Phyllis Kahn facing off against Minneapolis school board member Mohamud Noor, who seeks to become the first Somali immigrant elected to a state-level office in Minnesota.
The battle for the House of Representatives will be extremely heated. Both parties have identified the seats they are targeting to seize from the other party and those lists were outlined in a recent MinnPost article. While there are usually surprises on election day in which a seat deemed "safe" by one side or the other switches parties, I think the list provided in the article are fairly accurate in their assessment.
Here is a link to the article that lists the seats both parties are targeting in the upcoming election.
MinnPost link: http://www.minnpost.com/politics-policy/2014/06/party-without-power-how-minnesota-gop-plans-take-over-house
Minnesota Secretary of State Election Website: http://candidates.sos.state.mn.us/
The primary will be held on Tuesday, August 12, 2014, with the Republican primary for Governor, which features four candidates, will be the headline event that day. There are some very interesting Republican primaries for the House of Representatives and a lion's share of those contests are being held in legislative districts where SEE member school districts are located. Looking through the list, I see three races that I will be watching closely. They are:
- District 30A (SEE members St. Michael-Albertville and Buffalo), in a race that features Eric Lucero (endorsed candidate) and Kevin Kasel (St. Michael City Council member).
- District 35A (SEE members Anoka-Hennepin and Elk River), where Justin Boals and Abigail Whelan (endorsed candidate) are facing off.
- District 47A (SEE member Waconia), where Bob Frey (Norwood-Young America business owner) and Jim Nash (Waconia Mayor) are the Republican candidates vying for the slot in the general election. There was no endorsement in this race.
The highest profile primary contest on the DFL side of the ledger features 42-year legislative veteran Phyllis Kahn facing off against Minneapolis school board member Mohamud Noor, who seeks to become the first Somali immigrant elected to a state-level office in Minnesota.
The battle for the House of Representatives will be extremely heated. Both parties have identified the seats they are targeting to seize from the other party and those lists were outlined in a recent MinnPost article. While there are usually surprises on election day in which a seat deemed "safe" by one side or the other switches parties, I think the list provided in the article are fairly accurate in their assessment.
Here is a link to the article that lists the seats both parties are targeting in the upcoming election.
MinnPost link: http://www.minnpost.com/politics-policy/2014/06/party-without-power-how-minnesota-gop-plans-take-over-house
Tuesday, June 24, 2014
Back to the Blog. I've taken my month off from visiting here and it's time to get back on the beam and start blogging again. I'm going to try and cover a lot of territory during the interim, posting articles and comments about national and state education policy and national and state political news.
I'd like to kick off the summer with an article from conservative thinker/writer Reihan Salam that was printed in Sunday's Minneapolis StarTribune. The article is entitled "What Would Actually Happen if Tea Partiers Ran the Country?" The gist of the article is that the Tea Party does have a distinctive vision of how it would govern given the opportunity. Salam writes from a national, federalist perspective and a lot of the piece is very straightforward, particularly in Salam's assertion that education would more than likely be funded through vouchers and/or an aggressive expansion of charter schools in the more conservative states. He doesn't mention how federal education policy would change and one of the bigger issues would be how special education and other federally-funded programs would be handled. Would IDEA be repealed? A great number of unanswered questions would arise in addition to this.
Where I would like to depart a bit from his script is to point out the more worrisome aspect of subsidiarity that he describes early in the article. Subsidiarity contends that power should lie as close to the people-at-large as possible (and often that simple association between individuals can replace government). I'm not intent on arguing those points. Salam has a viewpoint and he backs it up in this piece. What worries me is what the piece does not say.
Minnesota has a very strong constitutional provision relating to education, as do most states. What makes the constitutional protection stronger in Minnesota is that the Minnesota Supreme Court argued in Skeen v. State of Minnesota that education is a fundamental right under the Minnesota Constitution. The question then becomes--and admittedly this may be apples-to-oranges--is how the concept of subsidiarity meshes with this fundamental right. Clearly, Minnesota is a local control state when it comes to education policy. While there are numerous state mandates that limit the scope of what local school boards can do (and many of those mandates cause considerable headaches), local districts still do their own bargaining, develop their own curricula, etc.
What is a bit troubling to me is whether our funding system and the concept of subsidiarity fit together. The role of the property tax in funding education (a tax that is favored by many who subscribe to subsidiarity because it is the tax closest to the people and funding services consumed directly by local residents) is always going to be contentious. The tax burdens experienced by taxpayers in low property wealth districts is much greater than it is in high property wealth districts on a dollar-per-dollar basis of revenue even with Minnesota's commitment to property tax equalization. I don't think that the concept of subsidiarity threatens that in the near future, but if there is a turn in that direction nationally and in Minnesota, problems of differential property tax burdens may again arise. It is always important to remember that Van Dusart v. Hatfield, the lawsuit that launched the Minnesota Miracle was a tax lawsuit as much as an education funding lawsuit.
Anyway, I found this article extremely interesting as it provides some very heady food for thought. The Tea Party gets bounced around a lot by criticism that it doesn't have a set of guiding principles, but I believe Salam provides at least an outline of some of the intellectual underpinnings of that particular movement.
Article: http://www.startribune.com/opinion/commentaries/264041291.html#LLPsPU6oCch3KDB7.97
I'd like to kick off the summer with an article from conservative thinker/writer Reihan Salam that was printed in Sunday's Minneapolis StarTribune. The article is entitled "What Would Actually Happen if Tea Partiers Ran the Country?" The gist of the article is that the Tea Party does have a distinctive vision of how it would govern given the opportunity. Salam writes from a national, federalist perspective and a lot of the piece is very straightforward, particularly in Salam's assertion that education would more than likely be funded through vouchers and/or an aggressive expansion of charter schools in the more conservative states. He doesn't mention how federal education policy would change and one of the bigger issues would be how special education and other federally-funded programs would be handled. Would IDEA be repealed? A great number of unanswered questions would arise in addition to this.
Where I would like to depart a bit from his script is to point out the more worrisome aspect of subsidiarity that he describes early in the article. Subsidiarity contends that power should lie as close to the people-at-large as possible (and often that simple association between individuals can replace government). I'm not intent on arguing those points. Salam has a viewpoint and he backs it up in this piece. What worries me is what the piece does not say.
Minnesota has a very strong constitutional provision relating to education, as do most states. What makes the constitutional protection stronger in Minnesota is that the Minnesota Supreme Court argued in Skeen v. State of Minnesota that education is a fundamental right under the Minnesota Constitution. The question then becomes--and admittedly this may be apples-to-oranges--is how the concept of subsidiarity meshes with this fundamental right. Clearly, Minnesota is a local control state when it comes to education policy. While there are numerous state mandates that limit the scope of what local school boards can do (and many of those mandates cause considerable headaches), local districts still do their own bargaining, develop their own curricula, etc.
What is a bit troubling to me is whether our funding system and the concept of subsidiarity fit together. The role of the property tax in funding education (a tax that is favored by many who subscribe to subsidiarity because it is the tax closest to the people and funding services consumed directly by local residents) is always going to be contentious. The tax burdens experienced by taxpayers in low property wealth districts is much greater than it is in high property wealth districts on a dollar-per-dollar basis of revenue even with Minnesota's commitment to property tax equalization. I don't think that the concept of subsidiarity threatens that in the near future, but if there is a turn in that direction nationally and in Minnesota, problems of differential property tax burdens may again arise. It is always important to remember that Van Dusart v. Hatfield, the lawsuit that launched the Minnesota Miracle was a tax lawsuit as much as an education funding lawsuit.
Anyway, I found this article extremely interesting as it provides some very heady food for thought. The Tea Party gets bounced around a lot by criticism that it doesn't have a set of guiding principles, but I believe Salam provides at least an outline of some of the intellectual underpinnings of that particular movement.
Article: http://www.startribune.com/opinion/commentaries/264041291.html#LLPsPU6oCch3KDB7.97
Thursday, May 15, 2014
E-12 Budget Done. The E-12 Budget articles of HF 3172--the omnibus supplemental appropriations bill--were finalized early this afternoon. $54 million will be spent on a variety of early childhood and elementary and secondary education purposes for the coming fiscal year with an additional $104 million built into the base budget for the next biennium. The highlights of the bill include:
Deb Griffiths is posting a more comprehensive summary on the SEE website, so look for it there.
All in all, a very good year. I'll be providing more details as things take greater shape.
- $25 per pupil unit on the basic formula increase (just under one-half percent) for FY 15 and beyond.
- Expansion of eligibility for English Language revenue from 5 years to 6 years.
- $4.7 million increase for Early Childhood Family Education by tying formula increases to increases in the general education basic formula.
- $4.7 million increase in Early Learning Scholarships (cap lifted in FY 16).
- $3.5 million for increasing subsidy for reduced price lunch, making it free.
- $1.8 million increase in Learning Readiness.
- $9 million in one-time money for teacher evaluation for non-alternative compensation districts (distributed on $302 per FTE).
- $50 per pupil increase in lease levy.
- $5 per pupil increase in safe schools levy for members of intermediate districts for use at intermediate districts.
- Increase in debt service equalization factors. Second tier increase effective in Pay 15. First tier increase effective in Pay 16.
Deb Griffiths is posting a more comprehensive summary on the SEE website, so look for it there.
All in all, a very good year. I'll be providing more details as things take greater shape.
Wednesday, May 14, 2014
Budget Conference Committee Moving (E-12 Portion Not). Yesterday saw the first movement in over a week on the omnibus supplemental appropriations bill and four portions of state spending (Health and Human Services, Tranportation, Higher Education, and State Departments) are now approved. This leaves the Environment and Natural Resources, Economic Development and Agriculture, and E-12 Education as the only segments yet to be unveiled and approved.
From what I hear, the major hang-up is how much money should be dedicated to the basic formula. The House bill contained a 1% formula increase, but with the overall budget target for E-12 dropping by over $20 million from the mid-$70 million range for $54 million, that provision will have to be pared back considerably. From what I understand, the House is holding tight around one-half of a percent, but even that is difficult to accommodate given the "tails" target that affect the revenue available for next biennium. The Senate has a number of early childhood initiatives they are promoting and are holding fast to them. The Senate also has one-time revenue for teacher evaluation costs in non-alternative compensation districts and that is a high priority for Education Minnesota and being a one-time expenditure, it has the advantage of not counting toward fiscal obligations in the next biennium.
The conference committee has been instructed to finish its work today, but it's 3:45 PM and there's not a lot of action. That doesn't mean things won't happen quickly, but to finish today, things are going to have to happen quickly.
HITA Bill Passes. Education Minnesota's Health Insurance Transparency Act (HF 2180) passed both bodies today by comfortable margins. The final vote was 79-50 in the House (6 Republicans joining all the DFLers) and the debate was very short. Things got a little more interesting in the Senate. The debate was more heated and there was a motion to reject the conference committee report. That motion failed on a vote of 27-39 on an almost strict party-line vote. That made the final vote a fait accompli , as the vote to pass the conference committee report was 40-27, with two Republicans voting for the measure and one DFLer voting against. I will provide a summary of the new procedures at a later date. A lot of this is busy-work, but it's still a pain and it continues to promote the impression that school district boards and administrations simply don't care about their employees.
Education Policy Conference Committee Report Passes. The conference committee report on HF 2397 passed the Senate floor yesterday on a vote of 37-27. As I reported yesterday, there was speculation that the conference committee report would be rejected due to opposition to the PSEO language in the bill that allows post-secondary institutions to advertise the advantages of their program. The effort to point that out only swayed 3 DFLers to oppose the bill, but with 4 Republicans voting yes, those defections were more than made up for.
Here is a link to the final roll call: http://www.senate.leg.state.mn.us/journals/2013-2014/20140513103.pdf#page=185
From what I hear, the major hang-up is how much money should be dedicated to the basic formula. The House bill contained a 1% formula increase, but with the overall budget target for E-12 dropping by over $20 million from the mid-$70 million range for $54 million, that provision will have to be pared back considerably. From what I understand, the House is holding tight around one-half of a percent, but even that is difficult to accommodate given the "tails" target that affect the revenue available for next biennium. The Senate has a number of early childhood initiatives they are promoting and are holding fast to them. The Senate also has one-time revenue for teacher evaluation costs in non-alternative compensation districts and that is a high priority for Education Minnesota and being a one-time expenditure, it has the advantage of not counting toward fiscal obligations in the next biennium.
The conference committee has been instructed to finish its work today, but it's 3:45 PM and there's not a lot of action. That doesn't mean things won't happen quickly, but to finish today, things are going to have to happen quickly.
HITA Bill Passes. Education Minnesota's Health Insurance Transparency Act (HF 2180) passed both bodies today by comfortable margins. The final vote was 79-50 in the House (6 Republicans joining all the DFLers) and the debate was very short. Things got a little more interesting in the Senate. The debate was more heated and there was a motion to reject the conference committee report. That motion failed on a vote of 27-39 on an almost strict party-line vote. That made the final vote a fait accompli , as the vote to pass the conference committee report was 40-27, with two Republicans voting for the measure and one DFLer voting against. I will provide a summary of the new procedures at a later date. A lot of this is busy-work, but it's still a pain and it continues to promote the impression that school district boards and administrations simply don't care about their employees.
Education Policy Conference Committee Report Passes. The conference committee report on HF 2397 passed the Senate floor yesterday on a vote of 37-27. As I reported yesterday, there was speculation that the conference committee report would be rejected due to opposition to the PSEO language in the bill that allows post-secondary institutions to advertise the advantages of their program. The effort to point that out only swayed 3 DFLers to oppose the bill, but with 4 Republicans voting yes, those defections were more than made up for.
Here is a link to the final roll call: http://www.senate.leg.state.mn.us/journals/2013-2014/20140513103.pdf#page=185
Tuesday, May 13, 2014
Here's a Discussion that is Going On. There is a lot of concern being expressed over the PSEO language in the Omnibus Education Policy bill (HF 2397) and the Senate will likely be taking up the conference committee report on the bill this afternoon. This article gives a pretty good perspective on the "pro" side of the argument. The key arguments against the provision--appropriate use of public money/quality of post-secondary courses taken by students--kind of get short shrift.
Anyway: http://www.minnpost.com/learning-curve/2014/05/education-advocates-embroiled-11th-hour-battle-over-post-secondary-gag-rule?utm_source=MinnPost+e-mail+newsletters&utm_campaign=45c8b84fb1-5_13_2014_Daily_Newsletter5_13_2014&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_3631302e9c-45c8b84fb1-123346838
Supplemental Appropriations Bill. The targets have been set, but the conference committee on the supplemental appropriations has yet to meet today. It is expected that they will meet and it is hoped that at least some of the funding "skeleton" will be filled in. I will certainly let you know if and when things proceed.
Anyway: http://www.minnpost.com/learning-curve/2014/05/education-advocates-embroiled-11th-hour-battle-over-post-secondary-gag-rule?utm_source=MinnPost+e-mail+newsletters&utm_campaign=45c8b84fb1-5_13_2014_Daily_Newsletter5_13_2014&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_3631302e9c-45c8b84fb1-123346838
Supplemental Appropriations Bill. The targets have been set, but the conference committee on the supplemental appropriations has yet to meet today. It is expected that they will meet and it is hoped that at least some of the funding "skeleton" will be filled in. I will certainly let you know if and when things proceed.
Rumors are True. Here are the budget targets as reported late last evening.
Spending Targets by Budget Area
- E-12: $54 million
- Higher Education: $22.25 million
- Health and Human Services: $103.9 million
- Jobs and Economic Development: $19.8 million (Note: a $10 million transfer from the Assigned Risk Pool will boost total spending to $29.8 million)
- Transportation: $15 million
- Environment and Agriculture: $12 million
- Judiciary and Public Safety: $35 million
- State Government and Veterans Affairs: $705,000
- Additional Spending: $20 million in various bills (Women’s Economic Security Act, synthetic drugs, medical marijuana, etc.)
Monday, May 12, 2014
HITA Bill Finished. The conference committee on HF 2180--the Health Insurance Transparency Act--finished its work today. One of the changes made to the final bill was an erosion to the Senate position that would have totally exempted self-insured districts from having to participate in the multiple bid program. Instead of a straight exemption, the self-insured districts have to get three bids from providers of third party administrative services. Districts that are currently self-insured or those with more than 1,000 insured lives that subsequently become self-insured do not have to seek a bid from PEIP for these services, but can if they so desire. Districts who become self-insured in the future and insure less than 1,000 lives must get a bid from PEIP.
Other language relating to the self-insurance issue adopted today helps bring greater clarity to the issue of which districts are self-insured. Under the interpretation of the Minnesota Department of Commerce, districts that buy their insurance through the self-insured pools developed by the service cooperatives are self-insured. While self-insured in one sense, they are certainly not self-insured in the same sense as individual districts who build their own system of self-insurance and language was needed to delineate that difference.
The bill will now go to the House floor for final approval. It is likely to pass relatively easily, even with the changes that some legislators who represent self-insured districts are not likely to support. If passed, the bill will then head to the Senate, where there will likely be several defections from the DFL majority, but probably not enough to ground the bill.
In the end, it has always been difficult for me to comprehend the need for this bill. Teacher bargaining units throughout the state still have unilateral authority to opt to be covered by PEIP during contract negotiations. Given that "hammer," I don't know why bargaining units would need to saddle districts boards and administrations with a lot of paperwork that will change little, if anything.
Rumor of Targets. Rumors are abounding that the budgets targets have been reached for each of the spending areas in the omnibus supplemental appropriations bill have been set and that the target for E-12 education is $54 million (with a tails target of $108 million). This is closer to the Senate target ($13 million above) than it is to the House target ($22 million below) and it will be difficult for the House position of a 1% increase on the basic formula to be achieved given the spending constraints resulting from a target at this level.
I would urge everyone who wants to see a lion's share of the target go toward the basic formula to contact members of the conference committee, especially the Senate members, and urge them to support the House's commitment to the basic formula. Also, thank the House members for putting this provision in the bill and pushing it during the conference committee proceedings.
Here are the legislative home pages for each of the conference committee members. You can e-mail them directly from their individual pages.
Other language relating to the self-insurance issue adopted today helps bring greater clarity to the issue of which districts are self-insured. Under the interpretation of the Minnesota Department of Commerce, districts that buy their insurance through the self-insured pools developed by the service cooperatives are self-insured. While self-insured in one sense, they are certainly not self-insured in the same sense as individual districts who build their own system of self-insurance and language was needed to delineate that difference.
The bill will now go to the House floor for final approval. It is likely to pass relatively easily, even with the changes that some legislators who represent self-insured districts are not likely to support. If passed, the bill will then head to the Senate, where there will likely be several defections from the DFL majority, but probably not enough to ground the bill.
In the end, it has always been difficult for me to comprehend the need for this bill. Teacher bargaining units throughout the state still have unilateral authority to opt to be covered by PEIP during contract negotiations. Given that "hammer," I don't know why bargaining units would need to saddle districts boards and administrations with a lot of paperwork that will change little, if anything.
Rumor of Targets. Rumors are abounding that the budgets targets have been reached for each of the spending areas in the omnibus supplemental appropriations bill have been set and that the target for E-12 education is $54 million (with a tails target of $108 million). This is closer to the Senate target ($13 million above) than it is to the House target ($22 million below) and it will be difficult for the House position of a 1% increase on the basic formula to be achieved given the spending constraints resulting from a target at this level.
I would urge everyone who wants to see a lion's share of the target go toward the basic formula to contact members of the conference committee, especially the Senate members, and urge them to support the House's commitment to the basic formula. Also, thank the House members for putting this provision in the bill and pushing it during the conference committee proceedings.
Here are the legislative home pages for each of the conference committee members. You can e-mail them directly from their individual pages.
Senate
Senator Dick Cohen: http://www.senate.leg.state.mn.us/members/member_bio.php?mem_id=1008
Senator David Tomassoni: http://www.senate.leg.state.mn.us/members/member_bio.php?mem_id=1064
Senator Terry Bonoff: http://www.senate.leg.state.mn.us/members/member_bio.php?mem_id=1069
Senator Tony Lourey: http://www.senate.leg.state.mn.us/members/member_bio.php?mem_id=1078
Senator Chuck Wiger: http://www.senate.leg.state.mn.us/members/member_bio.php?mem_id=1067
House
Representative Lyndon Carlson: http://www.house.leg.state.mn.us/members/members.asp?id=10089
Representative Tom Huntley: http://www.house.leg.state.mn.us/members/members.asp?id=10271
Representative Tim Mahoney: http://www.house.leg.state.mn.us/members/members.asp?id=10394
Representative Paul Marquart: http://www.house.leg.state.mn.us/members/members.asp?id=10401
Representative Jean Wagenius: http://www.house.leg.state.mn.us/members/members.asp?id=10690
Please make these contacts as soon as possible. By the end of the day Tuesday, it may be too late to make a difference!
Looks Like Things Will Start Moving. The conference committee on HF 2180--the Health Insurance Transparency Act--will convene in about one hour. Rumor last week is that everything was agreed to except for proposed treatment of self-insured districts. The Senate version of the bill exempts self-insured districts from the bill while the House version does not and there is some question as to whether or not the Senate can pass a bill without at least some protection for the self-insured districts. I will let you know the outcome as soon as it becomes known.
The Legislature has to finish its work by Sunday. It must adjourn for the biennium on Monday, May 19, and under the Minnesota Constitution, no bill can pass on the last day of the biennium, making Sunday the last day on which a bill can officially pass.
Lots of work left to do and I will be reporting on all of it.
The Legislature has to finish its work by Sunday. It must adjourn for the biennium on Monday, May 19, and under the Minnesota Constitution, no bill can pass on the last day of the biennium, making Sunday the last day on which a bill can officially pass.
Lots of work left to do and I will be reporting on all of it.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
