Author: Sarah Cooke

President Donald Trump abandoned public education in America on Thursday with an executive order to dissolve the U.S. Department of Education, said Denise Specht, president of Education Minnesota.

The 2025 Minnesota Teacher of the Year will be chosen from a field of 142 candidates. These candidates have accepted their nominations and completed the required materials to become eligible for the honor.  

Education Minnesota said educators and parents would successfully resist the the executive orders issued Tuesday evening by President Donald Trump, which promised sweeping and illegal changes to American education. 

Minnesota’s fourth and eighth graders who took the National Assessment of Educational Progress last year scored about the same as students in the same grades who took the test in 2022.

Education Minnesota announced its endorsement of Doron Clark in the special election on Tuesday for the Senate seat in Minneapolis formerly held by Sen. Kari Dziedzic, who passed away in December.

The budget proposed by Gov. Tim Walz on Thursday would bring needed stability to school district finances, although some proposals require additional study, said Denise Specht, president of Education Minnesota. 

The Minnesota Legislature will face difficult decisions in governing and setting a budget during the 2025 session and beyond but fixing the pervasive shortage of educators in Minnesota’s public schools must remain a priority.

Voters across Minnesota on Tuesday overwhelmingly supported candidates for their local school boards who promised to deliver public schools that are safe, welcoming and effective for all students and educators. 

Mark Bauch, a ninth-grade educational assistant at Washington Technology Magnet School in the Saint Paul Public Schools, is the 2024-25 Education Minnesota Education Support Professional of the Year.