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State Representative Debra Kiel
100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
651-296-5091
For more information contact: House GOP Communications 651-296-5520
SESSION UPDATE
News From Representative Kiel
Friends –
This week has been a busy week for us here at the Capitol. With Conference Committees wrapping up and the passage of the education finance bill as well as the environment policy bill we are hoping both of these omnibus bills will be signed by the Governor soon.
The education bill now does look a bit different than it did at first, and it still contains many needed reforms. We are still committed to providing equitable funding across the state and relieving schools of costly mandates and this bill does just that.
We have stood by funding for our schools even during a tough budget year and have increased per pupil funding by $41. This bill also creates an A-F school grading system, making it easy to evaluate and compare schools with rewards for schools that score the highest. It also creates a new teacher evaluation system based on student academic achievement and locally-determined factors. This new evaluation will replace the seniority-based retention process. This bill relieves districts of state-imposed mandates, such as: the 2-percent staff development mandate, library maintenance-of-effort requirements, counselor mandates, and the 403(b) vendor mandate.
Another issue that we are facing in our area is aquatic invasive species (AIS) and this week we passed an environment policy bill that will help to combat these species and eliminate this problem. But we can’t do this without your help. When you move from lake to lake this spring and summer, remember to always drain your boat plug. These aquatic invasive species are a growing problem that we need to take care of. If you need any more information on this, please don’t hesitate to contact my office or visit the DNR website http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/eco/invasives/index.html
As always I am happy to help and if anyone would like to make an appointment to see me please don’t hesitate to call my office.
Deb
News Items
- Rural families’ budgets will be tighter under the 2013 state budget - (Posted: May 24 2013 1:48PM)
- WHAT CHILDCARE PROVIDER UNIONIZATION MEANS FOR YOUR FAMILY - (Posted: May 24 2013 10:15AM)
- REP. KIEL: RURAL FAMILIES WILL PAY MORE FOR ELECTRICITY UNDER DEMS’ PLAN - (Posted: May 8 2013 12:45PM)
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