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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May 11, 2000
An Urgent Letter from MrEdCoPAC's President

To Members of Maple River Education Coalition and Education Activists:

Over the past two years, I have tried to do is keep a calm demeanor even in the most perilous situations.  There was never any merit to exciting a riotous attitude in you, the most effective grassroots movement that Minnesota has ever witnessed.

Today, however, I am going to take the liberty to allow some of my anger and some of my disdain show in an effort to impress upon you the severity of the education picture in Minnesota.

Today, the Star Tribune, in reference to the deal that was struck between the House and Senate on the Profile/North Star Standard, quoted me as saying, "I think it's an excellent settlement."  The St. Paul Pioneer Press quoted me as saying, "It's a very disappointing bill."  What could have possibly happened between the morning when I gave the Star Tribune quote and the afternoon when I gave the Pioneer Press quote for me to give two so conflicting statements?

Through the course of yesterday, with the help of a major newspaper, I was able to obtain the actual engrossed bill that came out of the negotiating meetings at the Capitol at 6:15 AM yesterday.  (No one at the Capitol was able to produce a copy of the actual negotiated bill.)  Until that time I had taken the personal word of Speaker Steve Sviggum, who had involved himself in the final round of negotiations, that the House had secured for us a "95% clean North Star Standard."  (The other 5% being incidental issues that were not fundamental to the NSS.)  I had left the Capitol very pleased.

Once I had the ability to review the newly negotiated bill, I was absolutely appalled to find that the language that we had just spent 18 hours negotiating on through the night was not part of the bill at all.  The bill was just as it was presented to the House at the beginning of the negotiation, filled with restrictions on the NSS and deceptive language that gave the NSS as an option for elected school boards and then took it away.

The DCFL, and Education Minnesota (teachers union), the Minnesota School Board Association, the Minnesota Rural Education Association, the MN Business Partnership and the Chamber of Commerce, from now on known as the "Education Cartel," were all involved in the negotiations. Never were we, the grassroots movement and advocates for the North Star Standard, asked to be part of the negotiations.  We had intermittent opportunities to work through Rep. Mark Olson early in the evening who was allowed to see the bill language for only a few minutes at a time but was never asked to participate and was left out of the equation altogether in the final hours. 

When the Speaker came out of negotiations at 6:15 AM Wed., the first thing he said to me was, "Where were you?  Tim (Maj. Leader Pawlenty) and I were looking for you."  I told him that I had been available in the House gallery all night.  In the last half-hour of negotiations, I stood right outside the door of the Senate conference room.

Let me spell out for all of you what this means to kids, moms, dads, teachers, and taxpayers.  The Speaker of the House (Rep. Steve Sviggum) and the President of the Senate (Sen. Roger Moe) just negotiated a bill for our children that does not eliminate performance assessments (packages), requires that all grading be converted to a Rubric score, makes it more difficult to take AP, IB, or PSEO courses, continues to score students against students in grades far above them, requires the NSS to be assessed with the Profile of Learning MCA's, requires teachers to agree with the School Board before the NSS can be implemented, and requires the NSS to come under many other provisions of the Profile of Learning.  Now, Minnesotans, let me tell you that House leadership agreed to spend an additional 20 million dollars of your money to get the Senate to agree to this "great victory."  What could be more insulting to every single citizen, Profile or North Star Standard supporter?

Chairman Bob Ness and Rep. Tony Kielkucki, house conferees on the Education Conference Committee, have refused to sign the conference committee report with this bill language.  We must commend them for that.  The other House conferee, Rep. Mary Ellen Otremba and all three Senate Conferees: Senators Pogemiller, Scheid and Robertson all signed the report before the ink was dry.

Where do we go from here?  I have the Speaker's word that he will see to it that the true intent of the House/Senate negotiations will be reflected in the bill's language and that language changes will be made prior to next Wed. when the bill is voted on in the House and Senate.  For now, you must call your own legislators as well as House and Senate leadership and make it very clear that you do not support this bill as currently written! Their numbers are at the bottom of this letter.

We will insist on a clean option for Minnesotans and we will hold accountable any legislator that continues to support the Education Cartel rather than the people of Minnesota and its children.

The only reason that the North Star Standard for Academic Excellence is alive today in the hearts and minds of Minnesotans and being talked about at our national Capitol is because of you.  I hope that you will sense the urgency in my words.  Thank you for making these vital calls right now!

Sincerely,

Renee T. Doyle,
President
Maple River Education Coalition Political Action Committee

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

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

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