EdAction
Maple River Education Coalition PAC
105 Peavey Rd, St 116 
Chaska, MN  55318 
952-361-4931
http://www.EdAction.org
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April 26, 2000

You can Fool some of the people 
some of the time... 
But you can't fool education activists in Minnesota!

The House/Senate conference committee on the Profile of Learning, SF 3286, hasn't met for 12 days, and that hasn't gone unnoticed by you activists across the state.  What's gives?

They can't come to an agreement, at least not yet.  As you know, the Profile bill passed by the House includes the Northstar Standard (NSS) as an academic achievement option to the Profile of Learning.  The Senate Profile bill does not.  Each side also has its own ideas for "fixing" the Profile.  Both sides have tried to reach a compromise by cutting Rep. Kielkucki's Northstar Standard into little pieces and trading them like baseball cards to get their own version of a Profile fix-it.  

The problem for legislators this year is that you are too well-informed.  You, the parents, students, teachers and all citizens across the state, have been letting your legislators know that you do not want the Profile forced down your throats.  

You expect the legislators to be capable of producing a genuine option out of the Profile. What is so difficult? Minnesota citizens have made a deal with each other already.  We've found common ground. Why can't the legislators? Keep the Profile of Learning if they must, but give us an academic achievement option. 

The reason this is so tough for them is because the Pogemillers of the state and the bureaucratic agencies that follow him do not want another system that could potentially make theirs look bad.  They do not want to answer to anyone.  They want the NSS to answer to the Profile so that we can all fail together!

Senator Larry Pogemiller, chief architect of the Profile of Learning, has made several proposals to the House conferees that include a so-called "Northstar Standard" option.  On examination, however, his version of a NSS is nothing but the Profile revisited.  Some politicians are just great at taking good language and corrupting the meaning beyond recognition.  That's what this is!  Right now, we are hopeful that the latest offer of the House conferees preserves the NSS option for school districts. (The actual language of their proposal won't be available until the conference committee meets again.)

Getting nowhere with his plan in conference committee, Sen. Pogemiller tried a new tack.  On Monday, April 13^th, as the Senate was completing its floor session, he abruptly announced a meeting of the full Senate education committee to pass a new Profile bill.  (Sen. Pogemiller is the entrenched chairman of that committee and can schedule meetings at will.)

"The House won't act," he fumed.  "I'm giving them everything they want."  His real fury is that the House conferees haven't accepted his proposal.  Frankly, the House conferees know that you, the public, will recognize his NSS as a hoax when you hear about it.  House conferees know by this time that there's no point negotiating on the NSS.  There's nothing to negotiate.

Ignoring the required three-day notice for what he was about to do, Senator Pogemiller took a bill already passed by the House on an entirely unrelated issue (HF 2190), made himself its chief author, stripped out the language and inserted in its place an exact replica of his Profile fix-it conference committee proposal, including his mangled NSS.  The newly created HF 2190 was then dutifully passed by that Senate education committee on a voice vote. Now it sits, ready to be passed by the entire Senate at any time.  

Sen. Pogemiller is banking on a stalemate if he doesn't get his way in conference committee.  He will then be in a position to step forward with his independent bill, pass it off the Senate floor and, in the final hour of the session, present it to the House for a vote. The House members, in desperate need of an education fix, will pass the Pogemiller proposal.  That is the way Sen. Pogemiller intends to have his way with the citizens of this state. 

Somehow, Sen. Pogemiller really believes that if he gets something passed that includes the NSS name, we citizens won't even know it isn't a true option at all.  He is counting on the public being totally duped.  And by the time the public figures it out, it will be too late!  NOT!!

It is time for the Senate, especially Sen. Pogemiller and Majority Leader Roger Moe, to hear from all of you that HF 2190 is not what we want. 

What would HF 2190 mean for the Northstar Standard? The Northstar Standard would not be able to be adopted by locally elected school boards.  Teachers and administrators would be statutorily given the same voting authority as school board members and their majority vote would be required for implementation of the NSS.  It would mean that the NSS would have to show that it "meets or exceeds the rigorous standards under the Profile of Learning."  It means that the NSS would furnish the same burdensome paperwork to the state that the POL does.  It would mean that NSS would be translated into POL language (rubrics).  It would mean that the NSS would be measured with the Profile of Learning Assessments.  It would mean that the NSS would become Profile of Learning number 2.

What would HF 2190 mean for the Profile of Learning?  It would mean that the Profile of Learning would still have performance packages, performance assessment and rubric scoring.  It would mean that all standards would be required to still be taught even though districts, site by site, may choose to require fewer standards for graduation, at least for now.

What do we at MREDCO think of all this?  Yippee!  The world is being forced to face the fact that citizens are standing firm.  They can create a dozen diversionary techniques, but they all terminate at the foot of the Northstar Standard.  The NSS is what the people want and what the people have been told the Profile of Learning is: local control, genuine academics, an end to social promotion and true accountability.

The media is being forced to recognize and admit that the NSS is a player in the new field of education reform.  The NSS has a voluminous backing by "real Minnesotans."  This is a tremendous victory!  The NSS has forced the bureaucratic education community to see just how bad the Profile of Learning really is!  Now, rather than admitting that a 10 year, multimillion dollar mistake was made, they are trying to discredit the very system that can save us by making it just like the Profile!  How foolish they look!

MREDCO wants you, the activist, to know exactly what we are facing and how all of this could play out.  It is very important that you keep close communication with your legislator so that the Northstar Standard will remain in its unadulterated form.

With the end of the session approaching quickly, the possibility of a true Northstar Standard option to the Profile of Learning is so exciting we can almost taste it.  This is not the time to let your guard down!  This is the time to increase your calls, letters and visits!  

Start by contacting the leadership in the House and Senate and tell them you strongly oppose HF 2190!  

Hold onto your seats!  The days ahead will prove to be exciting!

MINNESOTA SENATE PRIMARY CONTACTS

Senate K-12 Education Budget Committee Chair
Larry Pogemiller (DFL) SD 59, Senate Conf. Comm.
651-296-7809
235 Capitol Building
St. Paul, Minnesota 55155

Roger Moe (DFL) SD 2 - Senate Majority Leader
208 Capitol Building
St. Paul, MN 55155
651-296-2577

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES PRIMARY CONTACTS

Steve Sviggum (R), Speaker of the House
463 State Office Building
St. Paul, MN 55155
651-296-2273

Pawlenty, Tim (R), House Majority Leader
651-296-4128

Representative Ness (R), House Conference Committee
651-296-4344

EdAction - 105 Peavey Rd, Ste 116, Chaska, MN  55318 
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