2021

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.

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.

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 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. 

Education Minnesota reminded educators, students and parents to remain vigilant about the spread of COVID-19 after the Minnesota Department of Health reported Thursday that a seventh school staff member has died of the disease.

Educators and staff at Hiawatha Academies in Minneapolis and Great River School in St. Paul are unionizing and asking their respective boards to recognize those efforts. About 70 percent of staff at both charter schools signed cards of petition saying they want to unionize. Those cards were filed Monday with the National Labor Relations Board.