Giving Every Child the Education They Deserve

Prioritizing education is what built the wave of prosperity that so many Minnesotans have enjoyed over the last thirty years.  It’s been a core value championed across the political spectrum, from Republicans like Governor Elmer Andersen to DFLers like Governor Orville Freeman, and has been a source of hope and possibility for children and families throughout our state.

But in recent years our commitment to our children has started to waver. From 2002-2003 to 2008-2009 our state funding per student dropped 13.9 percent in real dollars.  And, predictably, our national ranking has followed.

Between 2006 and 2007, we fell from 6th to 13th. We have schools around the state seeking to cut their school week to four days. Too many schools have cut extracurricular programs, and many are even cutting necessary courses such as foreign languages. As a new generation looks to new dreams and new paths ahead, we need to make sure that we make the same commitment to our children that our parents and communities made to us.

In an Entenza administration, education will be the top priority.  With accounting gimmicks and funding shifts, the can has been kicked down the road on education, and the future prosperity of our state has been threatened. Our administration will mark a new day and renewed commitment to our children, starting with getting rid of No Child Left Behind and replacing it with real accountability; giving classrooms back to our teachers; and supporting reforms and innovations to ensure that our students receive a world-class education.

We know what we must do, but we also must face budget realities.  We’ve kicked the can down the road for too long and we will not be able to undo eight years of Tim Pawlenty in a single day.  The reality is that we will need to work our way back to adequately investing in our schools.  We can do this by embracing the clean energy economy and putting ourselves on a path to sustainable economic growth.  However this does not mean that we simply wait and wring our hands waiting for better times.  Now is the moment to begin the work of preparing ourselves for a transformation in our educational system that will pave the way for dramatic improvement for our students and our state.

Neither Robyne nor I would be where we are now without opportunities to better ourselves in the classroom, and we need to make sure that those ladders of opportunity remain standing and strong in the decades to come.

1. Getting Rid of No Child Left Behind and Establishing Real Accountability

2. Helping Our Teachers Thrive

3. Using Technology to Maximize Funding and Connect Students to the Future

4. Innovating and Collaborating to Rebuild Our School System

5. Access to Higher Education for All

6. Education Beyond the School Day