By: Charlie Kyte
This audioblog is 6 3/4 minutes long. Information about the Award to the St. Paul Schools is at 3:00, the schedule for Wendnesday starts at 4:00 and a short comment about an upcoming meeting with US Senator Norm Coleman is at 6:30.
This is Kirk Schneidawind, one of the very able MSBA Lobbyists as he is working in the Government Relations room at the State Capitol as we are both preparing for upcoming Hearings.
ELK RIVER PROPOSAL TO SPLIT THEIR SCHOOL DISTRICT: This is a proposal from the Rogers area of the Elk River School District to split their section of the District off from the whole school district. This is an important policy question that goes well beyond the Elk River Schools. The question is: Should the State set up a mechanism for school districts to undergo a process to sub divide themselves, or should the State not enable this type of process to happen. This decision will have significant effects for rural consolidated districts and suburban districts experiencing growth at their outer edges.
ST. PAUL DISTRICT RECEIVES THE AASA 'CIVIC STAR' AWARD: I had the opportunity to make a presentation to the St. Paul School Board on Tuesday evening. St. Paul has a particularly effective community partnership and they were recognized nationally at the AASA National Conference on Education in February. I was able to represent the award locally and also comment on how successful the t. Paul schools have been as an urban school district.
WEDNESDAYS SCHEDULE: The Senate Ed Finance Committee will hear bills on Equity revenue, Early Childhood funding and Class Size reduction Aid this morning.
I will testify in the House Higher Ed Committee at noon on the MnSCU's attempt to limit Concurrent College Course teachers by requiring all of these teachers to have a masters degree in their subject area plus 16 additional credits. Many of our HS teachers with concurrent college courses have masters degrees in areas such as curriculum and instruction. This initiative will make it harder for schools to offer concurrent enrollment courses in our High Schools.
Finally, the Minneapolis-TRA Pension Bill will be heard in the House Ed Finance Committee this afternoon. MASA will provide an advisory to all members this Firday in regard to this Bill.
MASA FEDERAL ADVOCACY COMMITTEE MEMBERS TO MEET WITH SENATOR NORM COLEMAN: This meeting has been set for April 11th and a delegation of our members will share our ongoing concerns about Federal regulations on our schools without adequate funding to get the jobs completed.
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