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Legislative News and Views - Rep. Julie Sandstede (DFL)

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Legislative Update - March 17, 2017

Friday, March 17, 2017

Dear Neighbors,

Today concludes yet another busy week in the State Legislature. The first committee deadline passed last Friday and the second committee deadline is today. That means policy bills have to be completely through the committee process in both chambers in order to still be considered “alive.” The third deadline two weeks from today, which is when budget bills must be through the committee process. 201 legislators are all trying to get their bills heard by Committee Chairs with finite hours in the day before these deadlines pass.

Broadband

A major priority of mine this session is expanding access to broadband across the state. On Tuesday, I had the opportunity to present my bill to the Job Growth and Energy Affordability Committee where they considered my proposal for an additional $100 million for this crucial infrastructure through the Border-to-Border Broadband Program, which leverages private investment with matching grants.

House Image

Rural counties which have grown out their broadband infrastructure have seen significant gains in household incomes and trend toward lower unemployment compared with counties which have not. Studies have also shown that higher download speeds in rural counties are associated with lower poverty levels. Coming to the Legislature I’ve made a commitment to serve as a fresh set of eyes in efforts to diversify the economy up on the Iron Range, so we can grow businesses, attract jobs, and keep younger generations from migrating elsewhere. Inadequate internet service is simply not attractive as we seek to keep families in our area, let alone attract new ones. I’m hopeful we can make a substantial investment in broadband this year.

School Readiness

Yesterday, a bill I’m carrying to increase investments in school readiness programs was considered by the House Education Finance Committee. School readiness programs, one of many that fall under the Early Childhood umbrella, were designed to help those in the most need to serve all of our youngest learners, but districts must use state aid to serve children known to be at greatest risk.  These are students with at least one of the following risk factors: they qualify for free or reduced-price lunch; is an English language Learner; is homeless; has and IEP or standardized written plan; is identified through Early Childhood health and developmental screening, as having a potential risk factor that may influence learning; or, is defined as “at risk” by the school district.  By age three, a low-income child has heard 30 million fewer words.

School districts recognize the importance and effectiveness of these early intervention programs so much so that some are using general fund dollars to meet the needs before them. In his supplemental budget, Governor Dayton is recommending more investments in early childhood education, and I hope we can target some of these resources to proven, effective school readiness programs. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. 

Teacher Layoffs

Unfortunately, not all time spent on education this week was so positive. Yesterday afternoon on the House floor, we considered a Republican measure to change the manner in which teachers are laid off. This is an initiative from their playbook to go after union employees, and we are seeing tactics like this play out across the nation. I rose on the House Floor to speak against the bill, and you can view my remarks here.

It’s very concerning to me before we’ve even discussed how large of an investment we will make in our students, we’re talking about letting teachers go. Moreover, there’s a teacher shortage in Minnesota, and we should be working on ways to solve that problem, too. I hope we can soon move toward discussions about the resources we will put into classrooms, and not focus on educators losing their jobs.

Please continue to stay in touch with your feedback. Have a terrific weekend, and Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

Sincerely,

Julie Sandstede

State Representative