Shutdown Deal Education Update

As of Thursday, July 14th, a tentative framework for a budget deal to end the government shutdown imposed by Governor Dayton instead of calling a special session to deal with a temporary funding bill has been reached.  Yet another $1.4 billion of spending was allowed via increased borrowing from schools ($700 million in “shifts” or accounting gimmicks) and another $700 million of borrowing of tobacco bonds in exchange for no increase in taxes.

All day Friday, the 15th, the governor’s commissioners and committee chairmen have been negotiating the details of each budget bill with a theoretical deadline imposed by Dayton of 10 PM on Friday with plans to call a special session on Monday, July 18th.  As of 11 PM on Friday, the Star Tribune was reporting that there were difficulties in those detailed negotiations especially with the state government bill and that work would continue through this weekend.  One of Education Liberty Watch’s sources reported that the education bill was done, but other sources even closer to the legislature had no confirmation for that report, so it is difficult to know what is going on.

During a noon hour Friday interview on Minnesota Public Radio, Governor Dayton had this exchange with the host Gary Eichton about what was in the education bill and what he was insisting on that would not be (starting at 43:25):

GE: “In terms of education policy reforms, Republicans wanted school vouchers. They talked about a bill whereby kids who couldn’t read by the end of third grade they couldn’t move forward. They wanted to do away with integration aid. Will those items be included in a final K-12 bill?”

MD: “No, and the abolishment [sic] of tenure will not be included. What will be included I think is an evaluation for teachers and for principals. I think that is something we can agree upon and some other aspects of the early childhood support which is absent in the legislative proposals and which I’ve insisted upon will be part of it..”

Hopefully, this is just the governor’s wish list and not what is in the final bill if it is even done. Perhaps the Republicans will give the governor the earl childhood scholarships as they offered in early July after the shutdown had just started but not the quality rating system, which would be a disappointing but acceptable compromise.  IT IS THEREFORE CRITICAL THAT YOU CALL AND EMAIL THE FOLLOWING LEGISLATORS TODAY TO THANK THEM FOR THEIR STAND AGAINST EARLY CHILDHOOD AND TAX INCREASES SO FAR AND TO STOP THE IMPOSITION OF NEW BUREAUCRACY OF THE QUALITY RATING SYSTEM AND TO HAVE ANY CHANCE OF STOPPING THE TERRIBLE SOCIAL STUDIES STANDARDS AND COMMON CORE NATIONAL STANDARDS:

LEGISLATIVE LEADERSHIP:

Senate Majority Leader Amy Koch 651-296-5981 sen.amy.koch@senate.mn

House Speaker Kurt Zellers  651-296-5502  rep.kurt.zellers@house.mn

House Majority Leader Matt Dean 651-296-3018 rep.matt.dean@house.mn

EDUCATION LEADERSHIP:

Senator Gen Olson (Chairwoman) 651-296-1282 sen.gen.olson@senate.mn

Representative Pat Garofalo (Chairman) 651-296-1069 rep.pat.garofalo@house.mn

Representative Sondra Erickson (Policy Chairwoman (651-296-6746)

rep.sondra.erickson@house.mn

Ask them to not impose the new bureaucracy of the QRS or submit Minnesota students (Pre-k to 12) to the federal control of Race to the Top and the national standards.  Here are some talking points that you can use regarding early childhood, some of which have to do with the new federal boondoggle of Race to the Top for preschool:

1) Despite the propaganda of the Reynolds study “investment” in preschool does not have a great return on investment. See our analysis titled Preschool is NOT the Panacea Portrayed in Study for details . Here are the summary points:

• The differences between the preschool group and the comparison group while considered by Reynolds and Co. as being statistically significant are not really practically significant as far as eradicating poverty or producing graduates that can be self-sustaining without government aid.
• The economic yield is questionable at best and strongly negative at worst if one considers small marginal income increases for preschool participants, the still high rates of arrest and incarceration, and the lack of differences at all in many other areas compared to the high costs of the program over and above the already high costs for regular K-12 public education in Chicago
• The very important factor of parental involvement in academic and other success was not really considered in the Reynolds research as to whether it was the preschool program, the parental involvement aspect, some combination, or something else that was responsible for the small improvements that did occur.
• The study also fails to adequately discuss the strongly negative effects of being raised in a single parent family and does not really analyze the differences in academics and life course between those in the study that are from single parent families and those who are from intact families.
• Even if one believed that the preschool program itself was responsible for the the stated improvements and that they are actually significant, the funding sources from both the state and federal governments are under tremendous pressure due to very high deficits and unsustainable spending patterns.

2) The money for Race to the Top early childhood initiative may not be there either this year or next year due to the dire financial situation at the federal level.

3) These are not private “Consumer Reports” types of systems. This is a new government bureaucracy with government mandated program and academic standards including very subjective arts and social emotional outcomes that we do not teach or assess for K-12 and should not be teaching for young children.

4) MELF’s own and national studies admit that they do not know if QRS’s actually improve child or program outcomes.

5) These programs are not popular. After 3 years and $20 million of private money for a pilot program –

• Only 14% of eligible providers signed up to be rated
• Only 25% of parents in rated programs had even heard of the QRS, so they were not using this system to make childcare decisions
• 92% of House Republicans voted to take this system out of the education bill and 100% of Senate Republicans voted to keep it out.

6) The social studies standards are politically correct and will set Minnesota back in their knowledge of America’s history, freedom and understanding of how government works and how to limit it.

THANK YOU FOR WHATEVER YOU CAN DO!!