urbanMSP

So now anybody that dares question the juggernaut that is Education Minnesota hates teachers?

Come on, we can do better than that here.

I'm not going to defend everything education Minnesota does. Gutless, lazy administrators certainly could do more to force bad teachers to improve or fire them. Obviously they could use a little more autonomy when dealing with performance. Administrators should work onteacher quality all the time not just when Republicans cut school spending and force layoffs.

I do think acs's positions are anti teacher. He wants significant cuts to seniority protections and elimination of pensions without, presumably, salary increases.

I just checked how much my high school physics teacher makes on twincities.com. A great science teacher with a masters degree and nearly twenty five years experience at a big metro district makes $65,000 a year. I don't know how we could attract and keep good teachers at that pay with meager benefits.

I'm pretty suspicious of anyone who uses the word plethora. Also, here is my pet lol:

http://www.leadership.umn.edu

Professors attack admins because it's frightening and easy. There are no accurate numbers, there are huge YOY increases, and people put two and two together. But that doesn't mean that it's the truth.

Every year since the 1970s, nearly every public university and college in the country has seen a declining (or at best static, which is a decline with inflation) amount of money from their state and local governments. You (and the UC professors) are correct that tenure-track faculty hiring hasn't kept up with the growth in administrative staff. But the bigger story is the massive increase in enrollment that has occurred, with a concurrent freeze or decline in state aid. Remember, most public universities are forbidden from raising their in-state tuition by more than a certain amount. So you can make that up a bit by letting in more students, but where do you get the money to teach them? More students doesn't really pay for more tenure-track faculty, so you hire adjuncts or make class sizes bigger. But that also means more admins; admissions officers, people fundraising to build more dorms or classroom buildings, people taking care of grade paperwork, etc. How do you adjunct those tasks away, particularly in an age of technological change and increasingly unfunded government mandates? The ADA alone requires a huge administrative staff to deal with, and that's really just the tip of the iceberg.

None of this is to say that there aren't indefensible hiring practices at public universities, that some administrators aren't paid too much, or that there is some bloat to cut. But it's a distraction from the real issue.

Um the chart from university of California compares management to other staff hiring. Certainly universities are serving more students and more administrative staff is needed but management has increased at a rate far exceeding other hiring and enrollment. I agree state government should increase aid but must ensure it won't result in more useless salaries for baby boomer paper pushers.

Btw, we can afford to do more as a state. The effective state and local tax rate, after Dayton's income tax hike, is below what it was throughout the 1990s. That's pretty remarkable given one of the state's biggest (the biggest?) expense is health care for the needy, teachers and employees.

I'm pretty suspicious of anyone who uses the word plethora. Also, here is my pet lol:

http://www.leadership.umn.edu

True story: I took a leadership class once. It was required for a program I was in for a year. It was kind of weird (and so is the whole leadership program). Though it really probably isn't any more useless than a social psychology class.

Then there's this...

It sounds like we're going to have a special session regardless of whether Gov. Dayton keeps his promise to veto the education bill.
http://blogs.mprnews.org/capitol-view/2 ... on-likely/

The House failed to pass an basic bare bones $100MM bonding bill, including money for the ongoing Capitol restoration, etc.

It also sounds like some really crazy provisions made it into a few bills, though I don't understand how they made it through the Senate. I believe the controversial provisions are in the jobs, environment & energy bills. I wish there were more specifics but the media hasn't quite caught up yet.

There's also the provision that allows counties to hire private auditors, bypassing the state auditor. Rebecca Otto is demanding a veto of that bill.

I thought for sure that one of either the Driver's License for Immigrants bill or the Felon Voting Restoration bills would pass. It sounds like despite some bipartisan support for both bills, Speaker Daudt was able to kill them in the House. Disappointing on both measures. I thought they were common sense moves. Then again, I also wonder why the DFL didn't take care of either/both issue when they had total control last year. DG or anyone involved with ISAIAH or NOC able to provide any more context there? What happened this year and why the hell didn't the DFL get this stuff done last year?

MinnPost had a good article regarding the Driver's License proposal.

Here's a good roundup, from MinnPost: https://www.minnpost.com/politics-polic ... sy-session

There were many unexpected casualties of the chaotic process Monday evening: the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency’s Citizens’ Board was abolished after nearly 50 years; the state’s Political Contribution Refund program was (again) suspended; DFL State Auditor Rebecca Otto suffered a major blow in a surprise provision that would allow county officials to bypass her office and get audits from the private sector. Otto said she’s worried private firms will undercut auditors in her office and offer less transparent and independent reviews of local governments.

I thought I read on Twitter there was another something or another which exempted mining operations from paying for water cleanup or some nonsense. I haven't seen anything further on that. I'm not sure what the supposedly toxic provisions in the jobs bill were...

Another MinnPost summary: https://www.minnpost.com/politics-polic ... -forgotten

God I love MinnPost. Give your money to MinnPost.

Then again, I also wonder why the DFL didn't take care of either/both issue when they had total control last year. DG or anyone involved with ISAIAH or NOC able to provide any more context there? What happened this year and why the hell didn't the DFL get this stuff done last year?

I can't speak to licenses or voting specifically but generally a lot of stuff didn't happen last year because the DFL was afraid they'd lose one of the chambers if they did anything "controversial."

Oops.

Surprisingly, Ryan Winkler is leaving the legislature, effective immediately (or perhaps after a quick special session): http://www.minnpost.com/political-agend ... es-belgium

His wife's job is taking the family to Belgium, so this represents a hiccup in the political career of a dude who absolutely has aspirations of running for higher office. He says the foreign assignment is temporary, and his MN political career is not over.

I hope the good people of St. Louis Park find a worthy successor in the special election that will likely take place later this year. Hopefully they are able to hold the election on actual election day, in which SLP residents will already be voting on City offices, rather than a special election in October or something. I believe the election has to be held within X days of his resignation - something that should really be relaxed to allow seats to sit vacant just a while longer to allow for regularly scheduled elections.

...something that should really be relaxed to allow seats to sit vacant just a while longer to allow for regularly scheduled elections.

Especially for the state legislators, who are not in session for half the year.

Dayton vetoed two other bills, Special Session now certain: http://finance-commerce.com/2015/05/spe ... er-vetoes/

What in the world happened with that environmental bill? I decided to skim through the text of the bill after reading a few articles about how it went down and how many unsavory provisions made it in. Some of the language inserted basically looks as if mining and agricultural lobbyists personally did the editing. And apparently 10 Democratic Senators voted for it? Did they just not realize what had been added? Tom Bakk...

This AP article covered the issue pretty well: http://www.startribune.com/for-senate-l ... 304746911/
It sounds like there is some lingering bitterness in the Senate DFL caucus over the environmental bill shenanigans. Only 10 DFLers voted for it. Probably every single one of them rural/range. I wonder if tensions over this session will last long enough to see Bakk ousted from power...or at least face a credible challenge. Is he automatically Majority Leader for the 2016 session? (i.e. do they vote annually? or only bi-annually following elections? could the caucus technically vote to remove him from power at any time?)

DFL Senators in swing districts were targeted in attack ads in the closing days of the session for their voting in favor of a gas tax increase: http://blogs.mprnews.org/capitol-view/2 ... n-gas-tax/

Also, as a look ahead to 2016, I'll remind that the GOP needs to pick up 6 seats to gain a 34-33 advantage in the Senate. Things went extraordinarily well for the MN DFL in 2012. Even with a national Democratic wave to ride in 2016, I still think the DFL loses 1-3 rural seats. Given the high turnout, I predict the DFL will hold all their suburban seats. There is perhaps a narrow opportunity for a DFL gain in Dan Hall's Burnsville/Savage/N.Lakeville seat or David Hann's Eden Prairie/western Minnetonka seat if the wind blows the right way. Gaining 6 seats is a steep climb for the GOP in 2016, but they don't need to gain 6 to block a gas tax/transit sales tax increase, as there will likely be at least 1 moderate DFLer against higher taxes. I think John Hoffman of Champlin voted against the DFL transportation proposal this year.

Then again, I also wonder why the DFL didn't take care of either/both issue when they had total control last year. DG or anyone involved with ISAIAH or NOC able to provide any more context there? What happened this year and why the hell didn't the DFL get this stuff done last year?

I can't speak to licenses or voting specifically but generally a lot of stuff didn't happen last year because the DFL was afraid they'd lose one of the chambers if they did anything "controversial."

Oops.

That is specifically true with the license proposal. The DFL was afraid of being painted as "soft on illegal immigrants" and losing swing districts. The pro-license movement came back and got even more bipartisan support, i.e. more Republicans, specifically Rep Hamilton, emphasizing the need for "safe roads" (helping make sure everyone can be properly ID'ed and get insurance). They'll keep fighting for passage during the special session

Then again, I also wonder why the DFL didn't take care of either/both issue when they had total control last year. DG or anyone involved with ISAIAH or NOC able to provide any more context there? What happened this year and why the hell didn't the DFL get this stuff done last year?

I can't speak to licenses or voting specifically but generally a lot of stuff didn't happen last year because the DFL was afraid they'd lose one of the chambers if they did anything "controversial."

Oops.

According to TakeAction Minnesota: "Governor Dayton named restoring the right to vote one of his priorities for the special legislative session that’s coming up, which means it may be taken up in the special session if legislative leaders agree to put it on the agenda."

Surprisingly, Ryan Winkler is leaving the legislature, effective immediately (or perhaps after a quick special session): http://www.minnpost.com/political-agend ... es-belgium

His wife's job is taking the family to Belgium, so this represents a hiccup in the political career of a dude who absolutely has aspirations of running for higher office. He says the foreign assignment is temporary, and his MN political career is not over.

I hope the good people of St. Louis Park find a worthy successor in the special election that will likely take place later this year. Hopefully they are able to hold the election on actual election day, in which SLP residents will already be voting on City offices, rather than a special election in October or something. I believe the election has to be held within X days of his resignation - something that should really be relaxed to allow seats to sit vacant just a while longer to allow for regularly scheduled elections.

Writ of special elex for 46A: http://mn.gov/governor/images/writ_of_s ... ection.pdf

To be held on actual election day in November, so that's a plus. Since SLP is already holding municipal elections this year, this early resignation shouldn't cost the public too much extra $

If you want a sneak preview of what might be in the bonding bill next spring, follow along here: https://twitter.com/MNSenCapInvest