2004-05 News

Princeton decisions to lower activity fees is right

11/10/2006 8:10:54 AM

Don Heinzman, Forest Lake Times
Two school districts are taking the risk and the lead to lower fees for students who desire to play sports and participate in all-important extra curricular activities.

School boards, teachers urged to reach contract settlements

1/5/2006 7:15:40 AM

With a Jan. 15 deadline looming, school boards and teachers are being prodded to reach contract settlements more quickly this year.
Norman Draper, Star Tribune

Was 2005 a good year for education in Minnesota?

1/4/2006 8:39:02 AM

MPR, Midday

Teachers low on supplies get new place to 'shop'

12/27/2005 8:07:21 AM

Dan Wascoe, Star Tribune
Most of the year, Cary Weatherby is the secondhand Rose of Bloomington public schools. Even during the holidays, she's sort of a scavenger Santa.

Federal cuts will hurt K-12 education

12/30/2005 5:56:06 AM

Editorial, Star Tribune
It's a matter of giving a little with one hand, then taking away even more with the other.

We need to discuss school funding

12/28/2005 11:04:17 AM

Letters to the Editor, Pioneer Press
In Mark Yost's Dec. 6 column, "Is Minnesota really underfunding education?," he again takes on the role of a mouthpiece for the Taxpayers League. Yost admits the need for an "honest, open debate about education funding."

Letters to the Editor, Pioneer Press

12/30/2005 5:51:24 AM

How will we pay for five more weeks?

12/30/2005 5:37:09 AM

Letters from Readers, Star Tribune
With recent school closings, increased activity fees, teacher layoffs and crowded classrooms, I was stunned to hear that certain school officials and political figures were proposing to spend precious funds to extend the school year by five weeks.

LONGER SCHOOL YEAR: A student's perspective

12/30/2005 5:34:14 AM

Letters from Readers, Star Tribune
After reading the article on the proposal to add five weeks to the school year, I was surprised to see that the perspectives of the nearly 900,000 people this will affect most were not included, the students.

PROPERTY TAX HIKES: Blame antitax folks

12/30/2005 5:26:57 AM

Letters from Readers, Star Tribune
As taxpayers question their property tax increases (Star Tribune, Dec. 12), I hope they remember who caused the increases. It was No New Taxes Gov. Tim Pawlenty, Speaker Steve Sviggum and his Republican friends in the Minnesota House, and their bosses at the Minnesota Taxpayers League. They cut state aid to schools, cities and counties, so those bodies had no choice but to turn to property tax increases.

20 years of a good school-choice option

12/21/2005 3:14:37 PM

Star Tribune, Editorial
Lindsay was bored and barely challenged in high school, so she spent her junior and senior years taking courses at then-Southwest State University. Steven was active at his high school, but took a few classes at Winona State to get a jump-start on college. Both are now successful professionals who participated in Minnesota's postsecondary enrollment options program (PSEO); they are also fine examples of why the 20-year-old program should continue and grow.

She's pushing state to 'take it up a notch'

12/21/2005 3:19:41 PM

Lori Sturdevant, Star Tribune Columnist
Their names included Dayton, Keating, Cowles, Morrison, Bemis. Though titans of commercial enterprises, these CEOs of yesteryear were also community builders, with the Nicollet Mall, pro sports franchises, a top-ranked university and progress toward social justice to show for their efforts. They expended their own energies and fortunes to make Minnesota synonymous with the good life for anyone who didn't (much) mind long winters.

Closing the gap is not only right, it's smart

12/21/2005 3:16:05 PM

Star Tribune, Editorial
We Minnesotans, perhaps more than most Americans, have high expectations for our home state. We are both defensive and proud that we've carved from this remote northern landscape a degree of civilization, and it's true that the state ranks high on all the usual lists that measure livability. We are, on the whole, healthy, wealthy and, if not wise, highly educated.

Hopkins school district is $4.3 million in debt

12/21/2005 3:33:26 PM

Norman Draper, Star Tribune
Hopkins schools walked a financial tightrope for six years.

Families hurt by cuts in child care help

11/10/2006 8:15:05 AM

Don Heinzman, Forest Lake Times
While the news of a surplus in the state’s treasure chest is good, it’s becoming clear that victims on the bottom of the income chain are suffering because of cutbacks that made the surplus possible.

Mary Turck: A slap at immigrants, and unfair to boot

12/21/2005 3:08:03 PM

Star Tribune, Commentary
When I read the governor's report on "The Impact of Illegal Immigration on Minnesota," I was reminded of the old saying about "lies, damned lies and statistics." This lovely little document offers some of each.

They still don't get it

12/30/2005 5:45:54 AM

Mark Yost, Columnist, Pioneer Press
I certainly touched a raw nerve — with teachers, superintendents and parents alike — with my column last week on education funding. A retired educator wrote, "Education bashing has not stopped and it appears that your column is trying to keep it alive and well."

Is the school year too short?

12/22/2006 6:51:57 AM

MPR Midday
The Minnesota Association of School Administrators has an idea for making Minnesota's students more successful in the global economy: keep them in school for more of the year.

Five more weeks? It's worth discussing

12/21/2005 3:21:20 PM

Star Tribune, Editorial
It was the buzz around the watercooler late last week: Folks were talking about a proposal to keep Minnesota students in school an additional 25 days each year.

Covering kids or moving backward?

12/21/2005 3:24:02 PM

Star Tribune, Editorial
Between 1996 and 2004, something remarkable happened in the nation's health care system. The number of adults without health insurance went up and up, yet the number of uninsured children went down and down.

Don't raise student borrowing costs

12/21/2005 3:28:38 PM

Star Tribune, Editorial
You're 22 years old. Your bachelor's degree is nearly in hand. Your grades are good, which should mean that your options are wide open. But if you are a typical American college senior, you have credit-card debt of more than $4,000 and college loans in excess of $20,000 that will need to be repaid.

School officials seek longer year

12/19/2005 12:50:17 PM

Under the plan, the school year would be 200 days.
Brian Baksta, Associated Press, Duluth News Tribune

The governor's warm (and fuzzy) budgetary math

2/13/2006 1:09:31 PM

Britt Robson, City Pages
Here we go again. At least once or twice a year, the folks in the Pawlenty administration call a press conference, use the economic forecast to paint an artificially rosy picture of the state budget, and spin themselves a windfall of positive publicity. The irony is, if the governor and his crew structured their budgets in a fiscally responsible manner, minimizing cost shifts and counting for inflation on both sides of the ledger, they wouldn't be able to get away with these dog and pony shows.

Is Minnesota really underfunding education?

12/28/2005 10:59:49 AM

Mark Yost, Columnist, Pioneer Press
While many of you were busy contributing to the strongest economy in a decade, the usual suspects were holding a news conference on Friday at the Capitol that claimed Minnesota was underfunding education by $1 billion.

Visions of fiscal plums dance in her head

12/5/2005 9:45:26 AM

Lori Sturdevant, Columnist, Star Tribune
Wish lists and letters to Santa are back in season. I wonder how many lists and letters were spoiled on Wednesday, when state government leaders announced that the shiny new surplus in the current two-year budget was already spoken for.

Our view: State must take new look at how schools are funded

12/13/2005 8:48:48 AM

St. Cloud Times editorial board
A report released Friday gives an important — and, yes, expensive — answer to a question Gov. Tim Pawlenty raised but did not answer when he took office: What does it actually cost to educate Minnesota children with today’s standards-based school programs?

Single-minded Taxpayers League Fails to Serve Minnesotans

1/9/2006 8:13:36 AM

Are Minnesotans fairly represented by the Taxpayer’s League of Minnesota?
Renee Murray, Stillwater Gazette

Keeping Public Schools Public: Free-Market Education

12/9/2005 6:29:23 PM

Fall 2005 - Rethinking Schools Online
A disturbing number of voucher schools are little more than refurbished, cramped storefronts. One school is in an old leather factory, another in a former tire store.

Inaction raises cost of bailing out Minneapolis teacher pension fund

12/5/2005 9:39:42 AM

Steve Brandt, Star Tribune
The cost of bailing out the failing Minneapolis teacher pension fund rose by $121 million in the past year as the Legislature failed to agree on a solution.

Man Behind 'Minnesota Miracle' Tax Reforms Dies

12/5/2005 10:10:35 AM

WCCO-TV
(AP) St. Paul Gerald Christenson, who had a hand in shaping in state education policy for decades despite never holding elective office, has died of cancer. He was 75.

Reading in the Park scores on three levels

1/4/2006 7:55:59 AM

Lori Sturdevant, Star Tribune
Minneapolis Park Board Member Walt Dziedzic was reciting his work to make city parks a positive force in kids' lives at a screening session last month when one item brought me to attention.

Minnesota's bright budget forecast stirs political pot

12/19/2005 4:00:27 PM

Patricia Lopez and Dane Smith, Star Tribune
Partisan debate already rages over the projected surplus. But most agree it means property tax relief and more bonding projects.

Big money brings little changes to Minnesota schools

12/5/2005 9:37:52 AM

Norman Draper, Star Tribune
It was one of the biggest raises Minnesota schools have gotten since the 1980s. This year's K-12 school funding bill will pour $800 million in new dollars into Minnesota schools over this year and the next.

The future of our kids is a good investment

12/5/2005 9:42:21 AM

Letter to the Editor, Star Tribune
I applaud the largesse and vision of the business leaders who founded Minnesota Business for Early Learning ("Leaders learning valuable lessons about kindergarten," Nov. 26).

Students Ace State Tests, but Earn D's From U.S.

12/12/2005 12:22:39 PM

By SAM DILLON, New York Times
After Tennessee tested its eighth-grade students in math this year, state officials at a jubilant news conference called the results a "cause for celebration." Eighty-seven percent of students performed at or above the proficiency level.

Leaders learning valuable lessons about kindergarten

8/24/2006 9:57:45 AM

Neal St. Anthony, Star Tribune
Interest among business leaders in ensuring that every Minnesota kid is ready for kindergarten is gaining traction, judging from the turnout at this month's Minnesota Business Forum on School Readiness.

Bush Administration Grants Leeway on 'No Child' Rules

12/20/2005 7:31:03 AM

Nick Anderson, Washington Post
The Bush administration has begun to ease some key rules for the controversial No Child Left Behind law, opening the door to a new way to rate schools, granting a few urban systems permission to provide federally subsidized tutoring and allowing certain states more time to meet teacher-quality requirements.

Gubernatorial candidates support early childhood education funding

12/19/2005 3:55:10 PM

Laura McCallum, Minnesota Public Radio
The 2006 race for Minnesota governor became more visible Friday, when four candidates shared a stage for the first time. Democrats Kelly Doran, Steve Kelley and Becky Lourey, and Independence Party member Peter Hutchinson spoke at a business forum on early childhood education. The four agreed on the importance of preparing kids for school, and criticized Gov. Pawlenty's leadership in this area.

House Approves Spending Reductions

11/18/2005 1:25:10 PM

Senate Passes Bill Extending Some Tax Measures
By Jonathan Weisman and Shailagh Murray, Washington Post Staff Writers

Schools integration program funding faulted

11/18/2005 11:43:13 AM

Norman Draper, Star Tribune
Only 5 percent of Stillwater School District students are nonwhite. Yet in 2004-05, the district got almost $1 million in state racial integration funds.