Neighbors,
I hope the return to regular routine is treating you well, now that school is back in session and the State Fair has come and gone. I'm looking forward to continuing to meet with many of you. I have open office hours every Tuesday so you can come by to ask a question, share a priority of yours, or just say hello!
Insulin Event
The cost of insulin and prescription drugs has skyrocketed in recent years. The House is advocating for a measure -- the Alec Smith Emergency Insulin Act -- to hold Big Pharma companies accountable and require them to create an emergency supply of insulin for people, like 26-year-old Alec Smith, who died because he couldn't afford the insulin he needed to survive.
I hope you'll come to share your frustrations, questions, and suggestions at the Diamondhead Education Center in Burnsville next Monday, September 16 at 1:00pm. If you or someone you love is struggling to afford their medication, I hope you can join us to have your story heard.
Back to School
Best of luck to all the students and staff who are settling into a new school year!
For decades, Minnesota's financial commitment to schools has fallen short, but this year the House passed quite a few measures to support our classrooms. We protected pre-K for 4000 early learners and addressed a shortfall in special education funding. All of our school districts will see a two percent increase per student this year, and again next year. Though this isn't nearly enough, it should help schools avoid teacher layoffs, closures, program cuts and larger class sizes that our community has disproportionately faced.
We can be proud of our accomplishments, but we still have a lot of work to do. School districts across our state are still being forced to make cuts and shift their deficits through referendums and property tax increases. A patchwork of funding streams is not the way to a healthier future for our children or our state.
Our school supply drive was a big success! We were able to deliver several pounds of supplies to nearly all of the elementary schools in our community
State Fair Survey
Over 11,000 Minnesotans stopped by the nonpartisan House booth to take our annual (unscientific) opinion poll. You check out the results here. Though the sample of people who wander into the Education Building to visit the House of Representatives booth is not a perfect representative sample of our state, our survey mirrored other statewide surveys in finding that 89.1% of respondents favor universal background checks on gun sales to help stop further gun violence. This has been and continues to be a priority for me as we look to the 2020 session.
Even if you can't join us on Monday, I hope you won't hesitate to reach out with your thoughts and questions! I hope you're having a wonderful end to your summer.
Sincerely,
Rep. Alice Mann |