Education Minnesota endorses Klobuchar for governor
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CHRIS WILLIAMS
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ST. PAUL, Minnesota. May 20, 2026 — Education Minnesota has endorsed Amy Klobuchar’s campaign for governor of Minnesota.
The political action committee of Education Minnesota unanimously recommended the endorsement, which was accepted this week by the union’s governing board. As part of the endorsement process, Klobuchar visited a school in Bloomington, met directly with educators and answered questions on school funding, the federal push to expand private school vouchers, the spiraling cost of healthcare, educator pensions, the importance of keeping educators’ voices at the center of education policy decisions at the state level, and other issues.
“Amy Klobuchar sat down with Minnesota educators, answered hard questions and never flinched,” said Monica Byron, president of Education Minnesota. “She has a vision for public education and the people who provide it, and her record shows she can deliver. The members of Education Minnesota are ready to go to work with her.”
Thirty educators from across the state comprise the Education Minnesota PAC board. They are classroom teachers, education support professionals, retired educators, higher education instructors and aspiring educators who are studying for their careers. All the official candidates for governor were invited to screen with the PAC board.
Klobuchar served nearly two decades in the U.S. Senate before announcing her campaign for governor. During her Senate tenure, she was a consistent champion for public school funding, working to protect and expand federal education investments while opposing efforts to divert taxpayer dollars away from public schools. Her mother was a public school teacher who taught second grade until she was 70 years old, a family history that Klobuchar has long said shapes her commitment to public education.
Among the most pressing financial burdens on Minnesota’s public schools is the federal government’s chronic failure to meet its promised share of special education funding under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. Under IDEA, Congress committed in 1975 to cover 40% of the cost of special education services, a promise it has never kept. The shortfall forces school districts to pull money from their general education budgets to make up the difference. This “cross-subsidy” costs Minnesota school districts hundreds of millions of dollars annually and remains unresolved despite partial state relief enacted in 2023.
Klobuchar co-sponsored legislation to close that gap across multiple Congresses, including the Keep Our Promise to America’s Children and Teachers Act and the IDEA Full Funding Act, the most recent version of which was introduced in April 2025. “It is critical to ensure that our state receives full federal education funding — anything less shortchanges Minnesota’s students,” Klobuchar said when the bill was reintroduced in 2021.
Klobuchar also fought to extend the Affordable Care Act premium tax credits for working families. The Republican reconciliation bill signed by President Donald Trump in 2025 cut more than $1 trillion from Medicaid and ACA healthcare coverage. Those cuts will harm the communities Minnesota’s educators serve and, through soaring insurance costs, the educators themselves. Education Minnesota has made the cost of healthcare a central legislative priority, launching a statewide advertising and advocacy campaign for the Educator Group Insurance Program, which would put all school employees into a common pool to negotiate better rates for educators and control costs.
Klobuchar’s campaign has pledged to lower costs for Minnesota families, with priorities that include expanding access to child care and lowering prescription drug prices, which was a fight she waged for years in the Senate. She was a leader in the 2022 legislation that allowed Medicare to negotiate drug prices directly with pharmaceutical companies for the first time in nearly 20 years.
Education Minnesota has long pushed back against federal and state efforts to fund private school vouchers. The Republican reconciliation bill passed in 2025 created the nation’s first federal private school voucher program, drawing sharp condemnation from the union. Klobuchar has consistently opposed voucher legislation throughout her career.
“Amy Klobuchar has spent nearly two decades fighting for the things Minnesota educators care about most – fully funding public education, closing the special education funding gap and defending the public schools that welcome every Minnesota student,” Byron said. “She’s the right leader for this moment, and we are proud to stand with her.”
Education Minnesota will announce additional endorsements in the weeks ahead.
About Education Minnesota
Education Minnesota is the voice for professional educators and students. Education Minnesota’s members include teachers and education support professionals in Minnesota’s public school districts, faculty members at Minnesota’s community and technical colleges and University of Minnesota campuses in Duluth and Crookston, retired educators and student teachers. Education Minnesota is affiliated with the American Federation of Teachers, National Education Association and AFL-CIO.
