Legislative Wrap-Up: Overall, Liberty Stands   May 19, 2010
The 2010 Minnesota legislative session will be known for what children, parents, and taxpayers were spared.  Thanks to you making your voices heard and the work of freedom-minded legislators, along with a big deficit and complex politics, Minnesota has been spared Race to the Top involvement, adoption of a dumbed down indoctrinating federal curriculum, mental health education, loss of the right to vote on levy extensions, and expansion of nanny state programs for our youngest children.
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  MN House Rejects Common Core, But Not Race to the Top   May 15, 2010
The omnibus K12 policy bill cleared the House floor very late on the night of May 11th.  The very good news is that there was little interest on either side of the aisle in adopting the Common Core Standards that we have been warning you about.  The bad news is that we all still need to continue educating legislators on the dangers of loss of sovereignty, the unfunded mandates, and the cradle to college control of our children that all go along with Race to the Top (RttT).
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  Senate Committee Adopts Core Standards   May 8, 2010
A valiant bipartisan effort to remove the Common Core Standards language from the Senate omnibus education policy bill was narrowly defeated on the evening of May 4. This language was the same that was defeated and that we warned you about in the House bill last week. It would adopt the yet to be completed national standards by expedited rulemaking authority, meaning no public hearing, all to gain 20 points in the unconstitutional, sovereignty-robbing Race to the Top program. We need to let our concern be known.
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  House Committee Rejects Common Core and Race to the Top   April 30, 2010
As the House education bill was being crafted and debated, EdWatch is extremely glad to announce that both major Republican gubernatorial candidates (Rep. Tom Emmer and Rep. Marty Seifert) understand the freedom priorities of sovereignty, local control and academic excellence.  Both have signed on to the bill authored by Rep. Gene Pelowski and Senator David Hann - to prohibit Minnesota's involvement in Race to the Top. Learn about the April 30 vote, pitfalls of the house DFL bill, the May 4 unveiling of the Senate education bill, and what action you should take to protect the freedom to control your own children's education.
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  Pawlenty Seeks to Impose National Standards Without Public Input   April 24, 2010
The Pawlenty administration released its education reform legislative proposal at a joint House-Senate hearing on the Race to the Top program held April 20^th. Although the vast majority of it had to do with teacher issues, the very first section of the bill proposed adoption of the Common Core Standards. Find out how you can respond to this move toward more federal control over the education of your children.
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  Oppose Adoption of the Common Core Standards  April 19, 2010
The following testimony was prepared for the Minnesota House Education Policy Committee informational meeting on the Common Core Standards Initiative that was held April 7. This meeting came in the midst of negotiations about whether Minnesota should apply for the second around of Race to the Top (RTT) funding. RTT will be discussed again during a joint hearing on April 20 at 8:30 AM. Learn about these initiatives and what you can do to oppose them.
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  MN Legislators Pass Omnibus Policy and Finance Bill  April 3, 2010
No New Money, But Bad Policy "Keeps Dream Alive" for an Invasive Quality Rating System. Find out what is at stake and how you can take reaction.
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  Minnesota Legislators Resist Race to the Top  March 20, 2010
As the Common Core Standards have finally become available for public comment, resistance from all points on the political and philosophical spectrum to both Race to the Top and the imposition of national standards has increased. Learn about, and help defeat, "Race to the Top."
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  Horrific Bills Continue Cradle Control  March 16, 2010
Besides the bill we discussed in our last alert, several more bills have tried to make a comeback or a new appearance that would unite all of the different entities that try to control our children, expand the subjective, invalid kindergarten readiness assessment, cement into place the controversial Early Childhood Indicators of Progress, create a cabinet level Commissioner of Early Learning and expand the subjective early childhood screening.  Here is the list of bill (with authors) and a brief summary of their problems. These bills will be heard March 17. Please call your representative and senator today.
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  DFL Bills Promote Mental Health Curricula, Continue Child Care Takeover
       and Micromanage High School Counceling
February 20, 2010
Continuing the big government trend to spend money that neither the state nor federal governments have for ideas that are not only not at all needed, but are actually intrusive and harmful, a trio of bills will be heard in House education committees this week. Learn about these bills and how to take action to stop them.
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  Home Visiting in Health Care Bills Promotes Government Intrusion into Homes  November 9, 2009
Among the MANY important reasons to oppose the health care "reform" bills now working their way through Congress are the efforts to expand home visiting programs and the mental screening of new mothers. The House bill, HR-3962, and Senate bill, S-1796, each seek to promote the mental screening of pregnant women and/or new mothers.  Become informed, contact your representative and spread the word.
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  Urge Governor Pawlenty to Unallot Invasive, Unnecessary Programs  May 29, 2009
Through "unallotments" Governor Tim Pawlenty will decide which programs to fund, partially fund, or eliminate in order to fulfill the state's constitutional mandate for a balanced budget. There's good news and bad news from the legislative session.
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  Republicans Take Stand for Liberty, Parental Rights, & Free Enterprise  April 27, 2009
Republicans sought to prevent the state from taking over private and religious childcare via the quality rating system. They also sought to prevent a major expansion of government through the creation of an Office/Director of Early Learning and through assuming government authority over the social and emotional aspects of a child's life in school readiness programs.
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  Democrats Seek to Take Over Social / Mental Health of Preschoolers  April 20, 2009
Democrats defeated Republican amendments that would have removed state control over the social and emotional lives of preschoolers. Here's what you can do.
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  Urgent Legislative Update: Nanny State on the March  March 22, 2009
Minnesota state government wants to expand its control in the raising and education of young children, take over private  childcare, decrease parental choice, and spend more money it does not have on invasive and ineffective programs.
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  State Power Grab Over Private Preschool   February 9, 2009
Most citizens would recognize the anti-bias curriculum as a highly politicized curriculum which seeks to impose a particular ideological world-view upon children.
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  Action on Radical Early Childhood Bills   January 28, 2009
Despite a massive budget deficit and lack of evidence of effectiveness or support in the general population, liberals in both the House and Senate are attempting to implement a statewide Early Childhood quality rating system (QRS).  This is not about school readiness or academics. It's about indoctrinating our most vulnerable citizens with the ideology of the left. Learn about the many problems with SF 72, HF 40 and HF 246, and what you can do about these bad bills.
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