Great Thompson and Garofalo Statements on MELF’s Improper Actions

Senator Dave Thompson, Assistant Majority Leader and member of the Senate Education Committee, and Rep. Pat Garofalo, Chairman of the House Education Finance Committee have responded forcefully and correctly to the Minnesota Early Learning Foundation’s (MELF) efforts to pressure Governor Dayton to unilaterally and unconstitutionally implement the Parent Aware quality rating system statewide as we warned you on  July 29th.

Senator Thompson describes the actions of  MELF and its executive director Duane Benson as improper in no uncertain terms.   Here is the senator’s excellent statement obtained by Education Liberty Watch:

Governor Must Reject Special Interest Politics at its Worst
Lakeville – State Senator Dave Thompson issued the following statement regarding the Minnesota Early Learning Foundation’s attempts to pressure Governor Dayton.

The StarTribune reported last night that the Minnesota Early Learning Foundation (MELF) was pushing Governor Mark Dayton to order funding for MELF’s early childhood quality rating system program known as Parent Aware.  The hope is to obtain one-time federal money from the federal Race to the Top program.  This would expand federal control of our education system, and create dependency upon a source of money that will not continue.

Senator Thompson stated, “MELF made its case to the legislature during the 2011 session.  Former State Senator Duane Benson personally lobbied me, and I sat on the Senate Education Committee that heard Senator Benson’s presentation.  After careful consideration of the program’s marginal performance record, high cost, and expansion of bureaucracy that would have been required, funding for MELF was left out of the Education budget bill that was ultimately signed into law by the Governor.

It would be an abuse of executive authority for the Governor to unilaterally fund and expand a program that was rejected by the legislature.  It also would be a violation of the Minnesota Constitution, which does not confer upon the Governor the power to appropriate money. I am confident Governor Dayton will reject the extraordinary and ill-advised plea of this special interest group.

It is disturbing to see a former Senator advocate for such actions.  I understand the disappointment experienced by those who do not succeed in gaining appropriations from the legislature.  But circumventing the legislative process in pursuit of government money is not the right thing to do.”

Rep. Pat Garofalo (R-Farmington) in an MPR interview dated July 28th properly stated that the governor cannot act alone:

State Rep. Pat Garofalo, R-Farmington, who co-sponsored this year’s final education funding bill, is not sure the governor can act alone.

“The key to the quality rating system was tying it to the scholarships, and that would require legislative action,” Garafolo said. “The governor could not on his own … say, ‘You have to have this sort of rating in order to get this scholarship.’ That’s something we’ll have to work on this summer and fall.”

Garofalo notes the scholarships aren’t available until next year, so Minnesota still has time to create a system. He adds it’s more crucial to enact a quality system than to do everything too quickly just to meet a deadline for a federal grant.

Governor Dayton, to his credit, did not give in to MELF’s theoretical deadline of Friday, July 29th.  Applications apparently will be due in “late summer” and by statute all of the grants must be awarded by December 31, 2011. There is no firm application date on the US Dept. of Education website.   Due to the debt ceiling negotiations, it is very difficult to know what the status of funding for this will be. There is also no firm funding status listed on the U.S. DOE website.  Based on population, Minnesota would be eligible to receive $50 million of one-time money, which is about what the state spends on Early Childhood Family Education (ECFE) during a single biennium.

Please continue to call the Governor’s office at 651-201-3400 and tell him that the Minnesota constitution does not give him the authority to implement this program unilaterally, especially when the legislature explicitly rejected it.  Please also call Speaker Kurt Zellers (651-296-5502) and Senate Majority Leader Amy Koch (651-296-5981) to ask them to remind the governor of proper legislative authority.  Finally, please thank Senator Thompson (651-296-5252) and Rep. Garofalo (651-296-1069) for their strong stands.

THANK YOU!!!