Discussion of Alternative Teacher Licensure Begins. The House Education Reform Committee heard HF 3 (Mariani) at its hearing this morning. After the House listened to Cecilia Retelle from the Minnesota Chamber present the Chamber's WANTED: Prepared Workforce. NEEDED: Education Reforms (which was presented in the Senate on Tuesday), the committee spent the balance of its time discussing HF 3.

As hearings go, it was very productive. The witnesses included Daniel Sellars, Executive Director of the Minnesota Office of Teach for America; Shannon Blankenship, Executive Director of the Hiawatha Leadership Academy (a Minneapolis Charter School); and Minneapolis City Council Member Don Samuels. All spoke in strong support of the bill, which they see as necessary to closing the achievement gap that exists in Minneapolis schools.

No final action was taken on the bill. It will be laid over until next Tuesday, when the committee will take testimony on HF 63 (Garofalo).

Sorry I Couldn't Make It Over to the MSBA Convention Today. The day at the Capitol ran long and I was unable to make it over to the Minneapolis Convention Center to join many of you at the MSBA Convention. I will be there on Friday morning and hope to see you there.

Bill Introductions.

Here are some interesting bill introductions relating to education issues that were introduced today (Thursday, January 13):

HF 86 (Mariani--Increase Compulsory Attendance Age): https://www.revisor.mn.gov/revisor/pages/search_status/status_results.php?body=House&search=basic&session=0872011&location=House&bill=86&bill_type=bill&rev_number=&submit_bill=GO&keyword_type=all&keyword=&keyword_field_text=1&titleword=

HF 87 (Mariani--Pre-Service Performance Assessment for Teachers): https://www.revisor.mn.gov/revisor/pages/search_status/status_results.php?body=House&search=basic&session=0872011&location=House&bill=87&bill_type=bill&rev_number=&submit_bill=GO&keyword_type=all&keyword=&keyword_field_text=1&titleword=

HF 88 (Doepke--Eliminate Set-Aside in Safe Schools Levy for Counselors, Social Workers, and School Nurses): https://www.revisor.mn.gov/revisor/pages/search_status/status_results.php?body=House&search=basic&session=0872011&location=House&bill=88&bill_type=bill&rev_number=&submit_bill=GO&keyword_type=all&keyword=&keyword_field_text=1&titleword=

HF 92 (Downey--Elimination of January 15 Negotiating Deadline): https://www.revisor.mn.gov/revisor/pages/search_status/status_results.php?body=House&search=basic&session=0872011&location=House&bill=92&bill_type=bill&rev_number=&submit_bill=GO&keyword_type=all&keyword=&keyword_field_text=1&titleword=

And in the Senate. . . .

SF 40 (Olson--Alternative Licensure, Companion to Representative Garofalo's HF 63): https://www.revisor.mn.gov/revisor/pages/search_status/status_results.php?body=Senate&search=basic&session=0872011&location=Senate&bill=40&bill_type=bill&rev_number=&submit_bill=GO&keyword_type=all&keyword=&keyword_field_text=1&titleword=

A Final Note. As promised, the Minnesota Chamber's WANTED: Prepared Workforce. NEEDED: Education Reforms is now on-line and can be found at this link: http://www.mnchamber.com/priorities/EdCompReformFINAL2.pdf