Quick House Floor Session Today.  The House held a quick floor session today to process the Federal tax conformity bill so it can be passed as quickly as possible (perhaps as early as next week), but they did introduce several bills.  There was only one education-related bill introduced and that was newly-elected Representative Eric Lucero's (R-Dayton) HF 175, which would expand the definition of the metropolitan area to include Benton, Chisago, Sherburne, and Wright counties.  This would provide a revenue boost to 17 school districts, 15 of which are SEE member districts.  The bill has been referred to the House Education Finance Committee where it will be heard.  I have talked with several other legislators who will be introducing different approaches to help SEE districts and Representative Lucero's bill is a good start for the discussion.

 HF 175 (Lucero) -- Expands definition of metropolitan area for purposes of calculating equity revenue -- https://www.revisor.mn.gov/bills/text.php?number=HF0175&version=latest&session=89&session_number=0&session_year=2015

Article on New York City Teacher Reform Advocate.  Here's a link to an article from New York magazine on Campbell Brown, the former CNN anchor who has become a leading advocate for reform of the teacher tenure system in New York City.  According to the article, the lawsuit filed in New York City that is similar to the Vergara lawsuit making its way through the California courts is on the verge of being dismissed, but tenure changes will likely be discussed in New York City and elsewhere (including Minnesota) in the near future.  The article is focused as much on Brown as it is on the teacher tenure issue (and it gets a little snarky at certain junctures), but it gives a decent overview of efforts to change tenure.

Link:  http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2015/01/campbell-brown-school-reform.html?om_rid=AABW$u&om_mid=_BUts9yB8$r584V

I have also included a link from National Public Radio published in July that talks about litigation related to the teacher tenure issue.  You will note in the last paragraph that Minnesota is mentioned as a possible site for a Vergara-style lawsuit.

Link:  http://www.npr.org/blogs/ed/2014/07/28/336050469/teacher-tenure-challenge-spreads-from-california-to-new-york