Home
Pam's Calendar
Pam's Bio
Kari's Bio
Podcasts
RSS Feeds
VIDEO VAULT
NEWS
Contact the Campaign
Polls on Issues
Pam's Blog
Donate
PCR Editorial
Donation Ethics
MN Is One State
Times Such as These
Discuss Forum
Clean Campaign Pledge
Platform

Issues

Education Policy

When I look at our public schools, I largely see us educating students in the same way we did when I went to school In spite of the fact that technology is changing so quickly that we cannot buy a new technology and learn how it works before it is sadly obsolete. This is just one part of the problem.

Add to the first problem the fact that very few of us live a Beaver Cleaver lifestyle and you can see that offering school only at one time of the day to a world of students whose parents do not all work at that same time they go to school, and you have another fraction of the problem. The United States is currently in 19th place in the world internationally. India and China are now the cutting edge for a highly trained, cutting edge technology workforce. We are not only not keeping up, we are far behind the curve.

SO, we cannot just throw money at the problem without identifying what we need to transform in order to get the job done and turn out high-achieving students into our universities and colleges and adding these same college graduates to our needy technological workforce.

Transforming education would mean looking at the way in which we provide education in a completely different way. Not only do we need to look at the time in which we offer classes, but we need to look at the various needs of the society around us. Collaborating with small and large businesses alike to ask what “they” need to have our students know in order to be productive workers in their organizations, and having them invest in the future of the public education system in this state.

Transformation means more than a quick fix here or there. It means moving from the Chrysalis to the butterfly. How do we start, how do we fund it, How, how, how?

First, we need to decide that public education from Kindergarten through 12th grade, needs to be fully funded at the state level. Providing an equal education to all is one of the most important constitutional charges we have as a state. We need to make certain that we don’t just grow “Administrative” jobs at the school district level, but that we get every available resource to the individual school. When the state cuts its funding to the school districts the school districts need to continually be levying taxes at the local level to meet the shortfalls. Either way you look at it, the money comes from citizens, make the taxation and funding formula process in education as transparent and understandable to the average citizen as possible. When people understand how things work, they will support the education system.

Second, Accountability to the citizen is paramount. We need some type of Quality Audit annually for every school district, to insure that operations are running lean and mean. We need to put a cap on Superintendent’s salaries and promote site-based management in all schools. Perhaps we can assist by passing legislation that states that no school district Superintendent’s salary should exceed the Governor’s.

We need to reward teachers for excellence, and offer big incentives for teachers who wish to retire early. We need to continue to revitalize the teaching workforce by hiring fresh faces with fresh ideas out of college, and keep the new ideas and technologies ever present in the changing classroom.

Thirdly, we need to stop putting all students in the “College” box. Some students want the opportunity to learn a trade and enter the workforce right after high school graduation rather than go to college. There are students who just do not want to go to college right after high school are de-valued because they are not considered “college material”. Many times when a student is given the opportunity to experience a trade and go out and earn a good living, they later on see the value of more education and enroll in college later. Why not give them the opportunities they dream of instead of forcing their dream to be a college education? Opportunity sometimes comes outside of the college model. We should be encouraging our students with all sorts of opportunities and possibilities.

Last, I want to discuss the importance of parent involvement. Parents must be vested in the scholastic success of their child. We know that participation is down, but have we really assessed why? I have heard other leaders go so far as to state that parents just don’t care to show up and be a part of the education of their child. As I look around I see many parents who work a different shift than the routine day shift of the sixties, seventies and eighties. Many times one parent works one shift and the other, a completely different shift. So, if we are setting up the school opportunities and conferences for the evenings, we may be making it impossible for a large segment of our parents to participate.

Perhaps of parents had the option of sending their child to school at the same time they work, then the family structure would be stronger and they would have a better life that would allow them to attend conferences outside of their work routine.

Citizens need to realize the many volunteer opportunities available to them at their local public school. From reading to elementary students to coming in as a guest speaker at the high school to teach students about their life’s work, these are opportunities that we can all invest in.

Education is an investment now in the future generation that will be in charge down the road. Don’t we want the best educational system we can possibly create?

I know that I do.

Together we can make it a reality.