It's hard to believe, but the State Fair is over, football season has begun, and summer vacation has ended for all of Minnesota's teachers and students.
With Hastings and South Washington County schools open for business once again, I thought I'd take this opportunity to highlight a number of investments, reforms, and changes that were made to Minnesota's K-12 Education system during the 2015 legislative session.
Locally, school districts are benefiting from their share of the $525 million in new revenue that was allocated to K-12 on a statewide basis. This new law increases per-pupil spending in the classroom by an average of $366 for the Hastings School District and $340 for South Washington County Schools through Fiscal Year 2017, which is good news for those districts.
$95 million was also allocated to schools statewide for early learning initiatives. This includes scholarships and school readiness aid.
A number of reforms were also implemented during the 2015 session. This includes improving access to quality educators by streamlining out-of-state teacher licensure reciprocity, and mandating fewer tests in order to increase classroom learning time.
In all, we approved dozens of provisions that prioritize our schools, our teachers, and our students.
Going forward, if you have any education questions or concerns, please contact me at 651-296-3135 or rep.denny.mcnamara@house.mn.
Best of luck to all the students, parents, and educators in Hastings, Cottage Grove, and Afton this year and please keep in touch.