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 20, 2001

Update on our interactions with legislators

Thanks to those who were at the Capitol for the day of lobbying this Wednesday! It was a tremendously successful way to be a presence at the Capitol and it was important to be there together.

Said one participant, "We were received warmly by most of the representatives. Our legislators and staff are very accessible and approachable, for the most part. When I reminded myself that I was there representing my kids, it helped me to focus."

The handout we used with talking points on various bills is now available on our website. A great deal of work that went into creating an invaluable reference. Use it to identify which bills to support and which to oppose.

Feel free to use that information when contacting legislators. Many legislators have little understanding of what parents, teachers and students are actually experiencing in the schools. Many indicated, for example, that they don't believe that school is being redefined to be primarily career training, or that is happening early in school!

For that reason, each one of us needs to take our personal stories to our own legislators (Senator and Representative) and then to other legislators, as well. They must be inundated with true examples of the experiences our kids are having in the schools. Then send a copy of your experience our way, too. We want to collect personal stories to use with the legislators, too.

One legislator (Rep. Juhnke, Willmar) did not believe that students were getting career training, except perhaps in the last two years of high school, and then only by their own choices! Rep. Juhnke needs to hear about the weekly career classes for 1st and 2nd graders, the "integrated curriculum" with job skills incorporated into all of the classes, the content standard in decision making (required by 8th grade) that walks students through their choices of career clusters, the School-to-Work conferences in which the state trains teachers to integrate careers into every subject at every grade, and on and on.

One of the bills we oppose is HF1449, authored by Rep. Swapinski, which subsidizes the training of childcare and early childhood workers and teachers according to a politically correct curriculum. Our information handout noted that his curriculum includes teaching toddlers about homophobia and sexual identity, and it suggests that children celebrate Halloween by making their own potions at a witch healer's table. This same curriculum is part of the Department of Children, Families and Learning's Early Childhood Indicators of Progress, their "Profile" standards for pre-K children.

Rep. Swapinski reacted with outrage to the handout, denying that there was any such material in the curriculum his bill was promoting. Respectfully, the two visitors volunteered that they would be willing to acquire a copy of the curriculum for his review. He showed them the door, furious that such statements should be made about that curriculum. Only a few hours later, Rep. Swapinski was approached by another citizen as he left an Early Childhood Finance Committee hearing. This visitor had a copy of the curriculum in hand, offering that he see it for himself. Rep. Swapinski refused to look at the material offered and walked away, saying, "I don't want to talk to you!"

Other legislators were interested and receptive. One was astounded to see the handout from the federal Department of Education listing the career clusters identified for Minnesota.

Legislators very much need a telephone call with every incident that tells a story. Or they need a visit. Emails get buried in a mountain of email. Letters, phone calls and visits get the attention.

Most missing from all of the lawmaking is a sense of the big picture. They are for the most part unwilling to look at the whole system, the three intersecting circles depicted in the graphic published by the Department of Children, Families and Learning: Education reform (Profile of Learning, Baby Ed, and full service mental and health services provided by the schools), Workforce Preparation (Workforce central planning bills now being passed) and Economic Development (public/private partnerships that identify favored industries and career clusters as part of a unified, federal plan).

For these and many other reasons, it is urgent that everyone take a personal interest in getting people to show up at the Protest Rally on Sunday, April 29th, at the Capitol south steps in St. Paul at 2:30 p.m. Legislators must see you there. Senator Pappas and Senator Moe say you like the Profile of Learning. Legislators say that there is no STW in Minnesota schools, all evidence to the contrary. Or, they simply say they like it!

Get an updated flyer for this rally! Make copies to distribute, and get your friends there!

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Be there -- before it is too late!

EdAction - 105 Peavey Rd, Ste 116, Chaska, MN  55318 
952-361-4931 - edaction@lakes.com - (c) EdAction - All rights reserved.