MN Session Report, Part I: The Good
& The Bad
EdWatch
began the 2007 session bracing for a disaster. (See
"
EdWatch President Speaks Out! "). We avoided a disaster, thanks
to the involvement of so many people calling, e-mailing, showing up, and
visiting with their lawmakers. We're grateful for you and for the very
important successes -- successes that appeared impossible at the outset.
Yet we
also lost important ground. The 2007 Minnesota legislature set some
destructive policies in motion.
Holding the line on taxes spared us some damage. Unrestrained government
-- government with a blank check -- is always dangerous to freedom and
families, providing no limit to bureaucratic mischief and the insatiable
appetite for public money. Jason Lewis and the Tax Cut Coalition deserve
high praise for raising the public voice on taxes. (See
"EdWatch
Featured at Tax Cut Rally.") The Governor deserves thanks and
credit for insisting on tax limits. A strong, unified legislative
minority deserves great thanks and credit for exposing the agenda of the
left and upholding the Governor's vetoes.
The
winners in school funding were Minneapolis, St. Paul and St. Cloud. The
biggest losers were rural districts where the per pupil funding gap with
metro schools widened dramatically. Notably, the top House and Senate
leadership positions are also from Minneapolis (Senate Majority Leader
and Speaker of the House) and St. Cloud (Assistant Senate Majority
Leader).
With the
Governor's final signatures, vetoes and line item vetoes now on the final
bills that were passed before midnight on Monday, May 21st, the 2007
EdWatch Four-Part Legislative Report is complete.
| Part I: | Nanny State Expansion |
| Part II: | Psychological Screening |
| Part III: | International Baccalaureate and Other Issues |
PART I:
Nanny State Expansion
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1.) New Early Childhood
Entitlement -- Fails
The take-over of private and religious child
care failed. It
would
have
established a new entitlement ("preschool
allowances") to all families of preschoolers to be redeemed ONLY at
state certified providers. (See
"Planned
Chaos at the Capitol.") This would have amounted to
state-required certification of virtually all early care
providers. Certification extends beyond simple licensing. Certification
is based on a rating system established by an unelected organization
(Minnesota Early Learning Foundation, see #3 below) in compliance with
the controversial and biased state outcomes the Minnesota Early
Childhood Indicators of Progress that include teaching a curriculum
of gender identity training, diversity training, environmentalism, group
identity, and careers.
The new-entitlement-takeover was held back only by its $54 million
price tag. The final Health and Human Services spending bill (HF
1078) substituted a $6 million pilot preschool scholarship program
targeted to low-income families instead of this new entitlement for all
families with preschoolers. However, the substitute scholarship program
tacked on some very bad early childhood policy. (See # 6 below.)
2.) Community Hubs -- Fails
Every aspect of parenting and family life
being placed under the purview of some government program and run through
public schools failed. The program would have started before
birth and expanded the Profile of Learning type assessments for
preschoolers. It would have required alignment with the Profile of
Learning type outcomes (Minnesota Early Childhood Indicators of
Progress) for preschoolers that deal with gender issues, careers and
environmentalism. It referenced accreditation by the National Association
for the Education of Young Children which teaches sex, gender issues,
homosexuality, witchcraft, careers and environmentalism to 3 and 4 year
olds, and which does nothing to close the achievement gap. The Hubs would
have collected extensive personal data on families.
This program failed because it cost over $20 million. Once again,
only the brake on raising taxes kept this monster from becoming reality
in Minnesota.
3.) Repealing accountability measures over
the unelected Minnesota Early Learning Foundation -- Fails
Attempts to repeal existing open meeting
laws, salary limits, legislative audits, and the Governor appointing some
members to the governing board of the unelected Minnesota Early Learning
Foundation (MELF) failed. MELF is one of a vast network of
"non-governmental organizations" (NGOs) run by self-appointed
boards that are notorious for their liberal, social change agendas,
funded by wealthy foundations with the same liberal social change
agendas. MELF is an aggressive proponent of the Nanny State -- government
taking authority over children from birth on. Previous state law has
granted MELF state agency-like authority over policy making that will
affect which providers are eligible to participate in state scholarships,
tax credits, grants, allowances or vouchers for early childhood programs.
These are governing powers that belong in the hands of state agencies
that are directly accountable to elected office holders.
EdWatch opposes NGOs being granted governing authority. Transferring
government to NGOs does not limit government -- it expands government by
removing it from accountability to the voters. However, these minimal
accountability measures, at least, were inserted into statute in 2005, in
response to EdWatch's criticism. After these passed, MELF then refused to
accept its 2005 legislative appropriation, rather than comply with some
Governor appointments to its board or submit to open meeting laws and
audits. This year
some legislators
attempted to have that accountability removed, but they failed.
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4.) Expansion of Home Visiting -- Passes
Partnerships to expand state home visiting
programs, including prenatally, passed in the Health and Human
Services spending bill. (See
"Womb to
Tomb Control.") The program will examine private data on
families without consent in order to involve them in the program. It will
collect and distribute that data without consent to a whole range of
government agencies. It will also connect families to government services
and early childhood programs, encouraging family dependence on government
and on getting children out of the home. It will train parents in the
most liberal views on how to parent. This program was widely opposed by
many groups in the state, including EdWatch, the Minnesota Family
Council, the Citizens' Council on Health Care, the Tax Cut Coalition,
activists from the minority community, talk radio, and several blogs.
EdWatch was disappointed that there was no line-item veto of any of the
$16,839 million appropriation for this invasive measure.
5.) State Training of Family, Friends and
Neighbors -- Passes
Grants for the state to train family,
friends and neighbors on how to raise and educate children
passed in the Health and Human Services Bill. Training of
aunts and grandmothers will be based on the controversial and radical
Minnesota Early Childhood Indicators of Progress that include
gender identity training, diversity training, environmentalism, group
identity, and careers. EdWatch hoped for a line-item veto of this
measure.
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6.) Quality Rating System/Early Childhood
Outcomes -- Passes
A "quality rating system" (QRS)
passed -- a system established by the Minnesota Early Learning Foundation
(MELF) and based on the controversial and very liberal state-defined
child outcomes. MELF, an unelected NGO that promotes
government taking authority over early childhood, will rate private and
religious preschool programs based on the Profile of Learning type
outcomes (Early Learning Indicators of Progress) for preschoolers
that deal with gender issues, careers and environmentalism. The QRS will
rate all providers whether or not they use scholarship money. It will
also be used to qualify providers to receive funds from the $6 million
pilot preschool scholarship program to low-income families. Pilots will
be implemented by the Minnesota Early Learning Foundation (MELF) in three
areas of the state: St. Paul, Hennepin County and Blue Earth/Nicollet
Counties. The QRS will also be piloted in these areas.
This is the most dangerous education measure passed this
session, tacked onto what could have been a good early childhood
scholarship pilot program. In addition to bringing private and religious
early childhood providers under the purview of the controversial and
radical state outcomes through a QRS, it also requires that in order for
these providers to receive state scholarship allowances, they must use
state-approved curriculum that are also in line with the controversial
state assessments.
The early childhood QRS/state curriculum system being imposed on
private and religious providers is a voucher system with
"strings." EdWatch has warned strongly against K-12
education vouchers with "strings" (requirements beyond simple
licensing). This early childhood scholarship pilot program models the
problem of vouchers with strings: Every provider that accepts the state
allowances will be subject to state-defined outcomes through the
curriculum and assessment requirements. Eighty percent of early childhood
providers are currently independent. As the program expands beyond
low-income families to include all families (as the earlier conference
committee bill proposed - see item #1), the de facto state take-over of
all early childhood programs will be complete. Governor Pawlenty had
rightly line item vetoed funding for a QRS program last year.
Unfortunately that did not happen this year. EdWatch will oppose the
expansion of this model program.
7.) Subsidies for controversial TEACH
certificate -- Passes
Scholarships for TEACH certification
(Teacher Education and Compensation Helps) for early childhood
providers seeking advanced degrees
passed in the Higher Education spending bill.
TEACH
requires the radical National Association for the Education of Young
Children (NAEYC) curriculum.
(See EdWatch
update of March 30, 2007.) NAEYC promotes teaching sexuality
issues to young children. (See their
sex ed curriculum from their online store.) NAEYC publishes and
promotes the Anti-Bias
Curriculum which discusses gender identity, anatomy, and gender
roles with three year olds. It also discusses homosexuality, witchcraft,
environmentalism, multiculturalism, and training in political activism.
These curricula do nothing to close the achievement gap. EdWatch hoped
for a line-item veto of this measure.
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