Greetings,
Area citizens are urged to attend any of the town hall meeting Gov. Mark Dayton is hosting throughout the state to discuss water-related issues in our state. One of those events will be in St. Cloud next Wednesday (Sept. 6).
This is a good opportunity to provide direct input as decisions are made regarding water regulations. Your feedback could be instrumental in determining appropriate courses of action, including addressing concerns brought forth by a number of rural property owners – particularly farmers.
These town hall meetings are free to attend and open to the public. Each event will be 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., with registration starting at 6:00 p.m. No advance registration is necessary. The St. Cloud meeting will be at the St Cloud Community and Technical College Cafeteria (1540 Northway Drive). A complete list of dates and locations for all 10 meetings is available at this link.
I regret that a scheduling conflict will not allow me to personally attend Wednesday’s meeting, but the bottom line for people is this: If you have something to say about water issues, this is your chance to have the governor’s ear.
On another subject, please be especially focused behind the wheel as the new school year starts. A number of changes are in store as classes resume, including a new K-12 education budget with more than $1.3 billion in increased funding. That is 2 percent more to the per-pupil formula each of the next two years, as requested by our school districts.
Here are the increases for area districts over the next two years:
- Albany $729,449
- Annandale $712,571
- Eden Valley-Watkins $435,368
- Kimball $358,103
- Paynesville $409,489
- Rocori $980,632
- St. Cloud $5.2 million
Aside from the funding increase, some important reforms also are being implemented, including:
- Ending the “Last In, First Out” default layoff policy for schools to keep the best teachers in the classroom.
- Overhauling the broken teacher licensure system to help hire more teachers to address the shortage our state faces, primarily in Greater Minnesota. (This follows recommendations from the Office of the Legislative Auditor).
- Investing in proven early education programming like pre-K scholarships and school readiness aid.
Hope you have a good Labor Day weekend. Be safe and look for more legislative news soon.
Good luck,
Jeff