Author: Sarah Cooke

Education Minnesota said Wednesday it supports a safe and equitable return to in-person learning for the 2021-22 school year, which can best be accomplished by following the guidance of state and federal health officials for restricting the spread of the virus that causes COVID-19 in schools.

Gov. Tim Walz and the Minnesota Legislature are poised to make strategic, long-term investments that bring the state’s financial support of public schools closer to Education Minnesota’s goal of full and equitable funding of public education.

A tentative agreement on the state’s two-year education budget invests enough in public schools to roll back the recent rounds of layoffs and makes important investments in diversifying the state’s teaching corps, said Denise Specht, president of Education Minnesota.

Education Minnesota repeated its call for educators and members of the school community to choose to get vaccinated after the Minnesota Department of Health reported the eighth death of a school staff member from COVID-19 in its weekly report on Thursday.

Graduation rates continue to improve across the state and among most subgroups of students, although significant gaps by race and class remain, according to 2020 data released Thursday by the Minnesota Department of Education.

The teachers and staff at Hiawatha Academies, a Minneapolis charter school network, voted to form a bargaining unit and become a chapter of Education Minnesota, the statewide union of Minnesota educators.

The teachers and staff at Great River School, a St. Paul charter school, voted Thursday to form a bargaining unit and become a chapter of Education Minnesota, the statewide union of Minnesota educators.

ST. PAUL, Minnesota. May 25, 2021 – On Tuesday, the one-year anniversary of the murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer, Education Minnesota released the following statement.

The state budget deal announced Monday left open many decisions about funding public education while signaling to local districts that they should stop the current round of devastating cuts and layoffs. Education Minnesota President Denise Specht noted the deal also fails to sustainably invest in Minnesota schools.

A petition asking Gov. Tim Walz and the state Legislature to make new investments that move the state toward fully funding public schools has garnered more than 20,000 signatures, Education Minnesota announced Friday.