EdAction: 2006 Front Page Archive

Action Alert: PROTECT CHILDREN FROM FORCED DRUGGING  December 6, 2006
Urge the U.S. Senate's lame duck Congress today to protect children from forced drugging with the Child Medication Safetly Act (HR 1790). HR 1790 has already passed the U.S. House.
(See details.)

Updated Action Alert: New Minority Leader Voter Guide  November 15, 2006
Use this Updated Voter Guide to urge your Republican Member of Congress to support the candidate that aligns most closely with your views. (See details.)

Action Alert: "No" to money for infant mental health testing  November 10, 2006
Congress' "lame duck" session will vote to fund universal psychological testing of babies, preschoolers and K-12 students, including dangerous drugging to treat them. Call them now to say that federal funding for state mental heath testing programs should be cut. (See details.)

Gov Candidates Early Childhood  September 10, 2006
Compare the primary candidates for Governor on Early Childhood issues.
(See details.)

Open Letter to President Bush & Action for Congress  September 9, 2006
Dr. Effrem writes an open letter signed by 12 other national groups urging him to push for cuts in mental health screening, and action is recommended.
(See details.)

2006 Legislative Wrap-up  June 6, 2006
The 2006 session came to an end on Sunday, May 21st. For EdWatch, there were some successes and some disappointments.
(See details.)

Trouble brewing in St. Paul   May 16, 2006
Rep. Doug Meslow (R-White Bear Lake), expects to have a good shot at getting a $23 million package of all the bad Nanny State provisions EdAction has warned about passed, in spite of the fact that it was not approved by a single House committee this session. How can this happen? Here's how it could happen.
(See details.)

Mental health screening bill ethically challenged  May 13, 2006
Rather than support his own bill to add mental health screening into preschool developmental screening,  Sen. Hottinger decided to deceive the public into thinking that mental health screening has been there all along and bypass the whole public debate.
(See details.)

Action: Senate passes $23 million Nanny State bill   May 11, 2006
The omnibus finance bill (HF4162 in the House and SF3781 in the Senate -- authors Rep. Knoblach/ Sen. Cohen) is now entering conference committee phase. The Senate bill includes a $23 million package of all the bad Nanny State provisions. None of this is in the House bill, but expect to have it slipped into the "agreement." Act now to head this off.
(See details.)

Action: Minnesota secretly screens  April 26, 2006
EdWatch has discovered that, in spite of the unexpected defeat of mental health screening last year, the Minnesota Department of Education has forged ahead with mental health screening for preschoolers anyway. In the absence of the failed law that would have authorized preschool screening for socioemotional [mental health] development, the Department references an obsolete administrative rule as its legal authority. That rule is obsolete, because the statute authorizing it was repealed in 1989.
(See details.)

Hate Crimes Legislation and Schools  April 13, 2006
EdAction President Renee Doyle tells why the proposed Minnesota "hate crimes" bill, co-sponsored by a Republican candidate for Minnesota Attorney General, is a gay rights bill that violates the equal protection of all citizens.
(See details.)

ACTION: Oppose IB  April 7, 2006
International Baccalaureate is "un-American," as described in this article. Legislation in both the Minnesota House and Senate allocates over $7 million to expand International Baccalaureate (IB) in Minnesota schools.
(See details.)

Report from the Capitol   April 4, 2006
The grassroots network is weighing in against the 2006 onslaught of the Nanny State and its interwoven mental health outcomes and assessments for our children. This is the current state of bill as of the beginning of April.
(See details.)

Profile for Preschoolers  March 27, 2006
The House picked up the Governor's Early Childhood bill. Immediate action is needed to oppose this bill! Rep. Klinzing offered a good amendment to limit developmental  assessments to "academic skills and learning history." Action needed to support it. Also, a report on Senate Action.
(See details.)

Nanny State Assault Continues  March 23, 2006
Thursday, March 23rd, testimony to implement a Quality Rating System (SF 3296), that will impose a government curriculum on private childcare providers and drive those who do not comply out of business, will be completed. The Nanny State that was valiantly fought off last year is back in full force. We cannot stand idly by and let this system engulf our children and our parental authority.
(See details.)

ACTION ALERT: MN Nanny State Assault Returns  March 20, 2006
Like Freddy Krueger who refuses to die in a bad horror movie, the Nanny State that was valiantly fought off last year is back in full force. This year, the over $10 million state takeover of parenting, early childhood education,  mental health screening, and corporate welfare scheme is coming from big-government legislators from both parties and from Governor Pawlenty, as well.
(See details.)

Action: Mental Health Screening  March 9, 2006
Join us in opposing SF 2841, which would add mental health screening to the early childhood developmental assessments.
(See details.)

House Majority Leader Voter Guide  January 26, 2006
EdAction has composed this voters guide of the legislative record of the three candidates in the areas of K-12 education and mental health screening and drugging to give our readers a picture of the three candidates on these very important issues.  Please use this guide to examine the stances of the three candidates. The issues raised in this guide may also be considered for use with candidates in the 2006 Congressional elections.
(See details.)

Just Whose Children  January 16, 2006
A home school mom and activist tells how early childhood development expansion is simply the next step in the transformation of our education and economic system.  Once fully implemented, this transformation will leave our nation unrecognizable as a constitutional republic and free market society.
(See details.)

Teacher Colleges screen for political beliefs  January 10, 2006
Columnist George Will reports that teacher colleges are refusing to certify teachers unless they have the "correct" political ideas on social justice. Teacher colleges have taken to screening students for proper political dogma, or dispositions. The policy was unmasked last October.
(See details.)

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