The omnibus E-12 education policy bill, HF1711, is a compilation of 25 bills sponsored by DFL lawmakers, 10 bills sponsored by Republican lawmakers, provisions from Gov. Tim Walz’s education policy proposal and a handful of amendments.
It was approved as amended by the House Education Policy Committee Thursday and now heads to the House Ways and Means Committee.
Listing the components of bill, Rep. Cheryl Youakim (DFL-Hopkins), the committee chair and bill sponsor, explained that her goal was to find balance.
“Not everyone is going to love everything in this bill, but I’m sure everyone can find something they will like,” she said.
Prior to approval, the committee took up several amendments, including one proposed by Rep. Glenn Gruenhagen (R-Glencoe) that would have created a legislative working group to review special education delivery and costs.
Gruenhagen said his motivation is to better understand why the United States has a higher percentage of children who are diagnosed with, and medically treated for, mental illness than other countries.
“We’ve got to get a handle on it,” he said. “When you label and drug these kids it’s almost like branding them, I really believe it’s a form of child abuse.”
While the amendment was not adopted, Youakim said she appreciated the intent, and supported a comprehensive approach to looking into the topic of special education delivery and costs. She also alluded to an initiative of Walz’s that will likely be addressing it.
Rep. Sondra Erickson (R-Princeton) recognized that there were “many good policies” in the proposal but expressed disappointment over provisions that would “start to gut” the tiered licensure system that had been developed, enacted and implemented under her leadership as the previous committee chair.
“That’s very concerning to me,” she said. “We have been so collegial over the years as chairs not to touch a chair’s major reform, at least not in the first year.”
Erickson said she hopes to continue to work on the bill as it moves through the process to ensure the tiered licensure system stays in place as is. “Maybe there will be some clinkers that we need to look at in a couple of years or three years, but this is not the time.”
Rep. Peggy Bennett (R-Albert Lea) also opposes the bill, sharing similar remarks regarding the proposed changes to the teacher licensure system, as well as concerns over additional mandates placed on schools and districts. However, she added that she appreciated the “friendly atmosphere” of the committee this session and the open dialog.
Youakim concluded by saying the “bill still has a long way to go. … We’re going to continue to have these discussions, and I do appreciate all the thoughtful and respectfulness we’ve had around the discussions this session.”
Taking a step back from coronavirus-related legislation, the House Education Policy Committee approved the omnibus education policy bill Wednesday.
Recognizing that students and educators will continue to face non-COVID 19 related challenges, Rep. Cheryl Youakim (DFL-Hopkins), the committee chair, said HF163 is pertinent to attempt to address some of them now.
“I think it’s important for us to pass an education policy bill this year; in fact it’s our job,” she said.
The bill was approved as amended, on a 10-6 party line vote, and now heads to the House Floor. The companion, SF3034, awaits action by the Senate E-12 Finance and Policy Committee. Sen. Carla Nelson (R-Rochester) is the sponsor.
Proposed measures include setting a statewide goal for increasing teachers of color and American Indian teachers by at least 2% per year, requiring districts to develop and post a school meal policy that outlines how it will handle lunch debt, and requiring education records to include pupil withdrawal agreements when a student transfers to a new school.
“I was looking for a balance of proposals that were noncontroversial, had a potential for consensus, would ease burdens on our school administration and staff, as well as create a better climate for our students,” Youakim said. “I think we have struck that balance in this bill.”
Most controversial proposals that had previously been heard by the committee were not included in the bill, such as teacher licensure changes. However, Republican members raised opposition to new directives aimed at school boards and staff.
“We have at least nine new mandates in the proposal and I would prefer that we focused this session on the continuity of education as it’s proceeding now,” said Rep. Sondra Erickson (R-Princeton)
“We don’t know what the future holds for our students, and there is so much more we could have been doing to help our students and our teachers and other staff to be ready for the 2020-21 school year,” she said.
Erickson unsuccessfully offered several amendments, including a proposal that would have made modifications to the state’s Innovation Research Zones Pilot Program by deemphasizing the research component of the program and removing the Department of Education approval process.
The committee adopted three amendments, including one from Rep. Glenn Gruenhagen (R-Glencoe) that would require students who attend postsecondary classes to provide a copy of their grades — including interim and non-final grades — to their high school to ensure that they are attending the program and passing.
Another successful amendment was offered by Rep. Ami Wazlawik (DFL-White Bear Lake Township), which would establish a developmentally appropriate screening timeline for recipients of early learning scholarships. It would also change the deadline by which child care providers would be required to receive a three- or four-star Parent Aware rating in order to be eligible to receive early learning scholarship funds.
Finally, Rep. Dean Urdahl (R-Grove City) successfully offered an amendment that would create a teacher mentorship working group to gather information and design a model for school districts to use. The goal would be to find ways to better support educators to ultimately retain them in the industry, Urdahl explained.
“At least two out of five of our teachers quit within the first five years. Our teachers need more support. Mentoring can provide that,” he said. “Some of the most successful education systems in the world have very comprehensive mentoring programs and they keep their teachers longer.”
There were plenty of questions Tuesday, but not much debate, as conferees began reviewing language differences between the House and Senate versions of the omnibus education finance bill.
The HF2400 conference committee resumed its work with a side-by-side comparison of both proposals outlined by nonpartisan fiscal and research staff.
Conferees, including bill sponsors Rep. Jim Davnie (DFL-Mpls) and Sen. Carla Nelson (R-Rochester), agreed that certain provisions will need to be revisited as the process continues.
One such proposal, included in the House bill, would require school administrators and staff to intervene and redirect a student’s negative or disruptive behavior using non-exclusionary practices, rather than turning toward suspension or expulsion.
Nelson said administrators have expressed concern that could prohibit teachers from effectively managing their classrooms.
“There does come point where keeping that child in a school setting would be disrupting the learning of other students and also tying the hands of the school professionals,” she said. “So we’ll want to delve into that a little further.”
Much of the language pertains to students with disabilities, explained Rep. Cheryl Youakim (DFL-Hopkins), who are excluded from classrooms at a disproportionately higher rate. She added positive behavior modeling and support services are more effective at correcting behavioral issues than using suspension and expulsion.
A Senate-only provision that drew questions from House conferees would set the groundwork to bring Pathways in Technology Early College high schools to Minnesota. Nelson explained they’re created through public-private partnerships and work within, or collaboratively, with high schools.
“I’m intrigued that you described it as a school-within-a-school program, because both the local and national advocates that have spoken with me about it described it as new schools in districts,” Davnie said.
Time permitting, Nelson indicated she would arrange testifiers and provide data on the program and how it works.
Other provisions included the House proposal but absent from the Senate version include:
requiring the Department of Education to adopt a comprehensive sexual education model. School districts must either adopt the model or adopt their own model and submit it to the department;
several changes to the state’s teacher licensure system including limiting Tier 1 and Tier 2 licensure renewals, and prohibiting lower-tiered teachers from providing a student with ongoing instruction; and
defining and outlining student journalist rights to freedom of the press in school-sponsored media.
Other provisions included the Senate proposal but absent from the House version include:
directing the Department of Education to develop an elementary English language arts model curriculum that is designed to enable students to develop legible cursive handwriting skills by the end of the fifth grade;
requiring districts to provide military recruiters and representatives of skilled trades with the same access to secondary students as prospective employers and higher education recruiters; and
authorizing nonpublic students in grade 10 to participate in PSEO career and technical courses.
Conferees are scheduled to meet again Wednesday at noon to finish walking through the side-by-side comparison. They plan to also take up early childhood finance and policy provisions within their respective bills.
Minnesota lawmakers are pushing an effort to provide amnesty to minors who have been sexually assaulted while drinking or using drugs.
Under the bipartisan measure, sexual assault victims and those assisting them would be protected from prosecution for certain controlled substance and alcohol violations. Sponsors of the legislation hope to encourage more sexual assault survivors to report without fear of prosecution.
“Even though [prosecution] doesn’t happen often, it’s a deterrent for victim-survivors to report. We want to make sure that we can say with certainty … that you will not be prosecuted if you were drinking when you were assaulted,” said Trish Palermo, president of the University of Minnesota’s Student Association, which worked with lawmakers on the bill.
The measure is modeled after a “medical amnesty” law passed in 2013, which allows minors who have been drinking and have a medical emergency to dial 911 without being prosecuted.
Rep. Cheryl Youakim, DFL-Hopkins, the main author of the House measure, said the proposal would help eliminate ambiguity in the reporting process.
“I do think it’s all about … the perception for students. A prosecutor may not prosecute for it, but students don’t know that,” she said.
Katie Eichele, director of the U’s Aurora Center, said in a statement that victims already face many barriers to reporting their assaults, and this proposal would “open as many doors as possible” to encourage them to come forward. The Aurora Center offers services to students and others who have experienced assault and harassment.
In a statement, Rep. Marion O’Neill, R-Maple Lake, called the measure a “common-sense proposal” that will help victims feel safe when reporting their assaults to law enforcement.
“This policy puts victims first and has the potential to save lives,” O’Neill said.
Prospects for the measure are still uncertain. The bill missed a legislative committee deadline last week, and Youakim said she may now push for an informational hearing or ask for a rules waiver to allow a legislative hearing.
Palermo said she hopes lawmakers will come together this year to support the legislation.
“It’s not a huge ask. It seems like a very obvious thing that we should already be doing,” she said.
It took weeks for the Minnesota Department of Health to find the source of a Legionnaires’ disease outbreak in Hopkins that killed one person and sickened 23 others last year.
Now a state representative for the west metro suburb wants to make sure it never takes that long again to figure out where an outbreak began.
State Rep. Cheryl Youakim, DFL-Hopkins, introduced a bill earlier this month that would create a state registry of cooling towers, often the source of widespread cases of the respiratory disease.
Cooling towers extract heat through the evaporation of water and release water vapor and droplets into the atmosphere. But they can produce aerosolized water particles contaminated with Legionella bacteria, which can make people sick if inhaled.
A registry, Youakim said, “would prevent more people from getting sick in an outbreak because you’d be able to find [the source] more quickly.”
Youakim said she has received pushback from building owners who don’t want to be fined for failing to register and from cooling tower manufacturers who think a registry would lead to more regulations.
“I’m starting very simple,” she said. “It may eventually be the way we need to go.”
Sen. Ron Latz, DFL-St. Louis Park, is sponsoring an identical bill in the Senate.
The bill would require owners of buildings with cooling towers to register the tower with the state health commissioner. Owners could be fined up to $1,500 if they failed to do so, according to the bill’s language, and would need to follow inspection and cleaning guidelines for cooling towers outlined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The Alliance to Prevent Legionnaires’ Disease, a nonprofit coalition supported by cooling tower manufacturers, said registering towers won’t prevent future outbreaks.
“The focus … on building equipment is misplaced,” said Daryn Cline, who works for the Alliance and cooling tower manufacturer Evapco. “More must be done to better monitor and disinfect against Legionella in the public drinking water system.”
But Dr. Janet E. Stout, president of the Pittsburgh-based Special Pathogens Laboratory, said the bill would make investigations more efficient. “This is about education and making sure people know the proper way to operate cooling towers,” she said.
After September’s outbreak, Health Department investigators determined within days that the cause was a cooling tower. But they had to search for it using satellite maps because there was no registry. It wasn’t until they received a tip that they were directed to a tower at the Citrus Systems plant in Hopkins.
A genetic match was found between the bacteria from the plant’s tower and infected patients. The tower was sanitized on Sept. 27.
“Within two days they had figured out that the source was a cooling tower. It took them up to three weeks to find that cooling tower,” Youakim said.
More than 110 people contracted Legionnaires’ disease in Minnesota last year, a sharp increase from the 50 to 58 who came down with it annually from 2012 to 2015. Most people exposed to the bacteria are not infected, but smokers or people with a weakened immune system are at an increased risk.
It remains to be seen how much weight Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and state officials will give to the CDC’s evolving guidance on opening schools. The governor is expected to make an announcement Thursday.
In a statement Friday, state Education Commissioner Mary Cathryn Ricker said CDC guidance is one of several factors officials will consider moving forward.
Legislators on both sides of the aisle said there should not be a one-size-fits-all decision regarding moving forward with in-person classes, online learning or some combination of the two.
Sen. Carla Nelson, R-Rochester, who chairs the Senate education policy and finance committee, said: “Everyone wants the children to be back in school, but it has to be safely.”
While Nelson said she’s not pushing to send every child back into their classroom, she also doesn’t want Walz deciding the issue unilaterally. Parents, teachers and school district officials — the people “on the ground” — should decide for themselves, she said.
Rep. Cheryl Youakim, DFL-St. Louis Park, who chairs the House education policy committee and whose husband is a teacher and whose son begins teaching in the fall, said distance learning has not worked well for every student. She said many students with special needs lost ground.
“There’s a science about why kids need to be in school,” she said. “And there’s a science about how to get them there safely.”
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