Greetings,

Capitol News from MFT Lobbyist Julie Sabo for Feb 9th - 13th

Two things you don’t want to see made, sausage and laws, goes the old saying.  Well, the grinding and mixing is beginning at the Capitol.  There are some things we wish we weren’t seeing and some things we are glad to see, although they might not make it into the final recipe. 

A governmental salary freeze bill has been introduced that would eliminate our ability to negotiate any salary increases in a new contract through June 30, 2011.  Pay increases for teachers would be limited to increases through Q Comp, which is excluded from the freeze.

Q Comp was the topic of several committee meetings last week in the House and Senate.  The Office of the Legislative Auditor released a report evaluating Q Comp.  The report primarily focused on how applications were handled, and if there was a measurable impact on student achievement.  What they found was that “Q Comp’s effect on student achievement cannot be adequately measured using existing data.”  They found that the most popular aspect of Q Comp among teachers and administrators was the focus on staff development, increasing opportunities for collaboration and peer mentoring.  Q Comp has increased the amount of money dedicated to staff development.

The House had a presentation on racial disparities in education achievement.  It was an interesting discussion with a lot of data demonstrating what Minneapolis teachers grapple with every day.  It looks much more tidy and far less daunting on paper than in the classroom.  And the data does look daunting.  What the tidy charts cannot communicate is the complexities of each of our individual students.  From the perspective of a tidy chart we just need to get those numbers up!  It is important for Legislators to hear the perspective, the stories, of the people those numbers represent.  Integration funding and the achievement gap are expected to be hot topics this session, but no direct legislation has yet been introduced.

Bills were heard in committee last week repealing the Labor Day start requirement and allowing the school district to pay for the cost of background checks for employees, volunteers, and others on school grounds. 

In the coming week the committees will begin to hear some bills, review the Governor’s College of Education reforms, and his other budget proposals, and discuss the new school finance system being proposed in the House.