The Legislature IS in Session.  The legislators filed into their respective chambers today--the Senate in a makeshift chamber in the new Senate Office Building and the House in the House chamber (with no running water)--and there was a bit of sparring about space and the difficulties that will be experienced by House members and lobbyists and staff trying to meet with House members while the House is in floor session, but the die has been cast and it certainly will be interesting to see how things play out.

First Education-Related Hearing of the Year.  The House Higher Education Committee heard Representative Bennett's HF 2586.  Under Representative Bennett's bill, the MNSCU chancellor in consultation with the Commissioner of Education, must develop cut scores on the reading and math MCAs that indicate a readiness for student success at the post-secondary level.  Under the bill, a state college or university could not require a student to take remedial work if their MCA score exceeded the guidelines established by the state college or university.  The bill passed on a voice vote and was re-referred to the House Education Innovation Committee.

Link:  HF 2586

Another MPR Installment on the Graduation Gap.  Here's the next installment in the MPR series dealing with Minnesota's graduation rate and efforts to improve it.  This report was prepared by Tim Pugmire and it goes over a lot of the same ground covered by Lauren Yuen and Brandt Williams, but he delves much deeper into the level of support service personnel in Minnesota.

Here is the link:  MPR Story