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Maple River Education Coalition PAC
105 Peavey Rd, St 116 
Chaska, MN  55318 
952-361-4931
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December 18, 2001
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MN Congressional Delegation unites on education vote - Against HR1!

With bipartisan agreement, Minnesota's Congressional delegation united today to oppose the federal education appropriations bill, "No Child Left Behind," HR1. HR1 re-authorizes federal education funding, a massive program launched in 1965 as part of President Johnson's "War On Poverty." It includes Title I, a federal funding stream used in most schools in Minnesota and across the country.

In today's Senate vote, Senator Wellstone and Senator Dayton joined Minnesota's five Minnesota House members who voted against the bill last Thursday. Representative Oberstar was the lone Minnesota House member who voted to support HR1, which passed overwhelmingly in both the House and the Senate.

"We are gratified that Minnesota's elected federal officials recognize that HR1 is taking us in the wrong direction on education," stated David Thompson, Executive Director for the Maple River Education Coalition. "We have vigorously opposed the federal mandate on local schools since the Profile of Learning was first imposed on Minnesota. HR1 is just more of the same. It is heartening that our Congressional Representatives are listening. All Minnesotans owe them a big thank-you."

Parents and education activists in Minnesota have repeatedly criticized Title I "strings" as forcing a federal curriculum, minimum expectations and schools-as-job-training-centers on every local district in Minnesota through the Profile of Learning. "Last summer local schools were threatened with loss of Title I funds if they would not implement the Profile requirements that the federal government required," Thompson explained. "We found out then what little jurisdiction our state legislators actually have under federal education laws."

Dr. Karen Effrem, a pediatrician and national critic of the federal education requirements, noted that HR1, for the first time in our history, requires a national test. That test is entirely aligned with the controversial Goals 2000 of 1994. "It absolutely destroys local control," she pointed out.

Maple River Education Coalition (MREdCo) is a non-profit organization that informs parents, teachers, business leaders and elected officials about the new federal education and workforce system and its destructive effects upon our children and our way of life.

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