Author: Sarah Cooke

In separate rulings with damaging effects on Minnesota’s educators, their families and their students, the U.S. Supreme Court has decided that race-conscious admissions policies are unlawful in higher education, and the court rejected the Biden administration’s plans to forgive billions of dollars in education debt.

Gov. Tim Walz has signed into law historic budgets for education, labor and taxes that could provide sweeping improvements to the teaching and learning environments in Minnesota’s schools and campuses, and which pay for an important step toward true pension reform for Minnesota’s teachers.

Most Minnesota teachers would be able to retire with a full pension a year earlier under a provision in the omnibus tax bill approved in the Tax Conference Committee of the Minnesota Legislature on Saturday morning. 

Educators from across Minnesota will march to the Capitol on Tuesday to tell lawmakers not to adjourn the legislative session without any action on fair teacher pensions.

The teaching and learning conditions in Minnesota’s schools could dramatically improve with the passage of the E-12 education and labor omnibus bills that the Legislature is expected to send to Gov. Tim Walz next week.

The office professional members of Education Minnesota St. Francis reached a tentative agreement with St. Francis Public Schools on Wednesday and the unit members approved the agreement today.

The faculty of the two campuses that comprise Northland Community and Technical College have taken an overwhelming vote of no confidence in college President Sandra Kiddoo and are calling for a leadership change.

Michael Houston, a mathematics teacher at Harding High School in the St. Paul Public Schools, is the 2023 Minnesota Teacher of the Year. 

Minnesota teachers testified Thursday at a special meeting of the joint Legislative Commission on Pensions and Retirements in favor of a proposal to lower the normal retirement age to receive a state pension without penalties.