Schools
Yes, teachers matter, but don’t forget about administrators
Teachers are the intense focus of the education debate. The union is fighting for better wages and working conditions that most teachers think will produce better outcomes. Other reformers focus on teacher quality and getting rid of ineffective teachers. Lost in all that debate, however, is another linchpin of success often forgotten: Administrators. School leaders […]
Minnesota school choice advocates look to landmark SCOTUS case
A United States Supreme Court case could boost Minnesota’s school choice movement after years of failed legislative attempts to create state grants, tax credits and tuition programs for families whose children attend private schools. Espinoza v. Montana Department of Revenue is a landmark case with the potential to upend school funding across the United States […]
Minnesota is projected to lose a seat in Congress. Here’s why that’s a huge deal
WASHINGTON — Minnesota is projected to lose a U.S. House seat in the coming years, new data show — a change that would diminish the state’s influence in national politics and could lead to less money for federally funded projects and services like roads and health care. The North Star State is one of 10 […]
America’s public schools seldom bring rich and poor together — and MLK would disapprove
More than five decades after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., many carry on his legacy through the struggle for racially integrated schools. Yet as King put it in a 1968 speech, the deeper struggle was “for genuine equality, which means economic equality.” Justice in education would demand not just racially integrated schools, but […]
Minnesota students are missing out on federal aid for college
On average, nearly half of 12th graders at most Minnesota high schools didn’t submit the Free Application for Federal Student Aid last year, according to data from the University of Wisconsin. The FAFSA — a lengthy, complicated form required to receive federal aid for higher education, as well as to access aid from many states […]
Some prominent Minnesotans want to amend the state constitution for education
Former Minnesota Supreme Court Justice Alan Page and Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis President Neel Kashkari want to amend the state’s constitution to say “all children have a fundamental right to a quality public education.” The proposal has garnered mixed reaction, with both the state teachers union and state Sen. Carla Nelson, R-Rochester, coming out […]
The story of a school levy and what it means for Minnesota
WORTHINGTON — Before 2016, cheer coach and youth leader Jessica Lee Velasco, a 37-year-old mother of seven, mostly worried about coaching the girls on her squad and shuttling her kids to soccer and hockey practices on time. The south Texas native, who met her husband here, had come to love the small-town life of Worthington, […]