Dear neighbors,
Minnesota has one of the highest numbers of Fortune 500 companies per capita in the country. It’s no accident.
Other states to our south are able to attract and retain large employers with warm weather and year-round golf. Minnesota is able to do it thanks to our well-educated workforce.
For generations, Minnesotans have understood the link between a high-quality education and a strong middle class. That’s why the legislature ended the practice of borrowing billions from our schools and took our state in a new direction by investing in our children’s education.
During the highly productive 2013-2014 legislative session, nicknamed by many as the ‘education session,’ state lawmakers restored Minnesota’s historical commitment to academic excellence.
We have more work to do in the years ahead, such as providing high-quality early learning opportunities for every 3 and 4 year old as well as reducing troubling debt for our college students, but by eliminating the gridlock that plagued our legislature for the past decade (which is still plaguing Washington, DC), Minnesota is better positioned to tackle those challenges in the years ahead.
To learn more, continue reading or click here to watch my latest video.
Paying Back Our Schools: The previous legislature borrowed $2.4 billion from our K-12 schools. To make our schools whole again, our budget paid back the IOU in full.
Early Childhood Scholarships: Research shows that the best investment we can make as a state is in our youngest learners. Thousands more children now have access to high-quality early learning in preschool and child care.
All-Day Kindergarten for Every Student: Every child in Minnesota will have access to free all-day Kindergarten beginning this fall, saving families thousands of dollars every year and freeing up resources for districts that already covered the cost of providing all-day Kindergarten free of charge.
Ensuring No Child Goes Hungry: We all know that going hungry without a hot lunch not only impacts students’ health, it negatively impacts their ability to learn in the classroom. Our budget increased funding for the school lunch program to ensure no student is ever turned away at the lunch counter due to the inability to pay.
New Funding for K-12 Education: The legislature invested $525 million in Minnesota’s K-12 education system. The new funding is strongly tied to meeting ambitious goals that include closing the achievement gap, raising high school graduation rates, achieving literacy for all students by third grade and ensuring all students are college and career ready by the time they graduate.
Prioritizing College and Career Readiness: In addition to providing badly needed new funding for our schools, state lawmakers improved student assessments to ensure meaningful results and better outcomes. New college and career readiness exams beginning in middle school are designed to provide students, parents and teachers with important diagnostics to empower them with early planning for their career goals and success in learning.
Tuition Relief for Minnesota Students: Past state budgets slashed funding for higher education, leaving students and parents to pick up the tab in the form of skyrocketing tuition and crippling debt. The legislature changed course by freezing tuition and providing the largest increase in financial aid in over a decade.
If you have any questions or comments, please contact me by phone at (651) 296-5387 or by email at rep.will.morgan@house.mn.
Sincerely,
Will Morgan
State Representative, District 56B