Dear Friends and Neighbors,
Here is an update from the Capitol
In this Issue:
- Visit the MN House at the State Fair!
- Omnibus Bills Continued
- Congratulations to Rogers High School and ISD 728 for Strong Test Scores
- Peppin’s MinnTriv
Visit the MN House at the State Fair!
The State Fair started this week, and I encourage you and your family to go out and visit the Great Minnesota Get Together!
If you’d like to visit the Minnesota House of Representatives booth, it’s located in the Education Building. Come take the survey to share your thoughts on the latest issues at the Capitol, get a Capitol dome hat and meet legislators from across the state.
Learn more about our booth here.
Omnibus Bills Continued
In the last few updates, I have been sharing details about the major budget bills that passed earlier this year. This week I will talk about the last two major omnibus bills—Jobs and Energy and Public Safety.
Job Growth and Energy Affordability
The Job Growth and Energy Affordability omnibus bill focused on lowering energy costs for consumers and creating more good-paying jobs across the state.
Highlights in the bill include improving vocational training for students wanting to enter the trades, providing job training for veterans, reinvesting funding from ineffective energy programs that benefit a few into more effective clean energy programs that benefit consumers across the state, and lowering energy bills by reducing and streamlining the regulation process for energy providers.
Additionally, this legislation also works to return over $700 million in unclaimed property back to Minnesotans. To see if you’re one of the thousands of Minnesotans with unclaimed money owed to you, go to https://mn.gov/commerce/consumers/your-money/find-missing-money/.
Public Safety
The Public Safety omnibus bill was first and foremost about keeping citizens safe and ensuring law enforcement has the tools they need to serve and protect.
Highlights in this bill including providing new revenue to combat terrorist recruitment, creating additional sex trafficking prevention grants, and allocating new money to local law enforcement agencies to help fund officer training costs.
Additionally, we included language in the law that prohibits the governor’s office from making rules that would modify or conflict with REAL ID legislation. It also prevents the Department of Public Safety from expanding Minnesota driver’s licenses to undocumented immigrants through rulemaking.
Congratulations to Rogers High School and ISD 728 for Strong Test Scores
It’s no secret that students do better when parents are actively involved in their education. From providing a nutritious breakfast to teaching them study skills, helping with homework, limiting non-education internet access and through countless other ways, numerous studies have shown a direct correlation between parental involvement and school success.
It is this parental involvement that has helped both our Rogers schools and District 728 outperform the state’s largest districts on the Minnesota Comprehensive Assessments (MCA exams) last year.
Of the top 10 largest school districts in Minnesota, District 728 placed first in overall math scores, with the district’s proficiency rate of 75 percent topping the state average by 16 percent. In reading, District 728 was third among the 10 largest districts and third in science as well. Third grade students marked the highest proficiency rate in math at 83 percent, which is 15 percent higher than the state average.
While our students are overwhelmingly successful and our district scores are strong, there is always room for improvement. I applaud students, parents and teachers for their efforts and encourage them to continue excellence as the 2017-18 school year gets underway.
For more test score information on any school in the state, visit the Department of Education website at http://rc.education.state.mn.us/
Peppin’s MinnTriv
Thank you to everyone who participated in the last Peppin’s MinnTriv Question. The question was: This commonly used item was invented by St. Paul grocer Walter Deubener in the early part of the twentieth century. The answer was the handled paper grocery bag.
Congratulations to Lance Levitan from Maple Grove for having the first correct response!
In honor of the State Fair starting, here is this week’s question:
Just two weeks before becoming President of the United States, Theodore Roosevelt said this famous phrase during a speech at the Minnesota State Fair.
Respond to this question and you could be featured in the next e-mail update!
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In order to best represent our communities, I need to hear from you, so please don’t hesitate to contact my office at any time. My direct line is 651-296-7806. My email address is rep.joyce.peppin@house.mn and my mailing address is Room 459 State Office Building, 100 Dr. Martin Luther King Boulevard, St. Paul, MN 55155.
Have a wonderful weekend.
Sincerely,
Joyce
**Encourage your neighbors and friends to sign up for my email updates at www.house.mn/34A