St. Paul, Minnesota — Today, the Minnesota House of Representatives passed the conference committee report on the Omnibus Education Policy Bill. State Representative Mary Sawatzky (DFL – Willmar) was appointed to serve on the Education Policy Conference Committee which finished its work last week.
Highlights of the bill include comprehensive changes to English language learner services, revamp of the career and technical education model, reform of teacher licensure core skills testing, addition of an adult standard high school diploma, and unsession repeals.
The bill also includes a provision authored by Rep. Sawatzky to make Minnesota a part of the Interstate Compact on Educational Opportunity for Military Children. The Compact provides a range of educational areas that Minnesota would agree to implement to assist transferring children of military families. Many of these provisions are written broadly to allow for local control and flexibility in implementation.
Areas of transition covered are the handling of educational records from the sending district and receiving district; immunizations; kindergarten and 1st grade entrance age; course and educational program placement; special education services; placement flexibility when similar but not exact coursework has been completed; student request for absences due to deployment activities; extracurricular participation; course waivers and exit exams. Many of the rules for the mentioned areas provide guidance and encouragement for districts but do not require them to make accommodations that are not reasonable.
“The main goal of my provision is to make life just a little easier for military children moving into a new district,” said Rep. Sawatzky. “Frequent moves and family separations through deployments, and then the reintegration issues make life especially challenging for military children. We should do anything we can do to help them and their families.”
Once the Senate passes the conference committee report, the bill will head to Governor Dayton to be signed into law.
Rep. Sawatzky encourages constituents to contact her with any questions, comments, concerns, or ideas on any legislative topic. Rep. Sawatzky can be reached by phone at 651-296-6206 or by email at rep.mary.sawatzky@house.mn. Constituents can also visit Rep. Sawatzky’s AreaVoices blog, legislative page and sign up for email updates.