Dear Friends,
I hope you and your family enjoyed your Labor Day weekend. Kids are back in school, and the first signs of fall are upon us as the leaves start to change and temperatures start to cool off. Best wishes to all teachers and students during this exciting time of year.
I had the chance to visit the State Fair last week, and participated in the Minnesota House of Representatives Booth in the Education Building. It was a great chance to listen to the thoughts and concerns of many Minnesotans. Here's a photo with DFL Rep. Roger Erickson, who also spent time at the booth while I was there.
The Minnesota Milk Producers graciously held "behind the scenes" tours and my family was honored to participate. The tour was very helpful in further understanding the ever changing and growing dairy industry. I continue to visit and support our local dairy farmers and this tour furthered my appreciation for their work. Additionally, my daughters thoroughly enjoyed the tour and took a couple minutes to showcase their hats from the Milk Producers.
Back to School
Over the last two sessions, our education budget has increased by 680 million dollars beyond the projected base. However, with this increase in spending there are still far too many kids who are not reaching their potential and falling through the cracks of our system. We struggle to find real solutions to the persistent problems in education: low academic achievement, school readiness, rewarding great teachers, unfunded mandates, social engineering over academic excellence, and constant meddling into our local schools.
Throughout the interim I continue to look for ways to improve our educational system and to find real gains in achievement for our students. As always, I look forward to any comments or suggestions and hope you'll join me in strengthening our schools and striving for excellence. I still believe in our state's ability to lead the country in academic performance so now is the time to keep pushing for meaningful reforms.
Lastly, don't forget to stop in Little Falls for the annual Arts and Craft Fair. The town is open and ready for business this weekend!
Have a great week,
Ron