(KNSI) – One hundred people packed the ballroom at the Courtyard by Marriott in St. Cloud Thursday evening for a presentation from the Center for the American Experiment.
The think tank says polling they conducted shows 59% of Minnesotans rank the latest legislative agenda as fair or poor and a majority says the state is on the wrong track. Policy Fellow Catrin Wigfall is a former teacher, specializing in education, and she spent time talking about school choice. It is one facet of the group’s “climb back to sanity.”
She says, “States have been making this a reality for their residents in a variety of ways. Our neighboring states provide far more options for families than Minnesota. Wisconsin has several school choice programs that have been in place for decades and have been very successful.”
Wigfall says choice doesn’t mean a free-for-all in the classroom. “You can write a school choice bill with any type of parameter you want. School choice in Virginia looks different than school choice in Utah. The limited school choice we have in Minnesota looks different than what Iowa now has.”
She says it usually takes the form of an education savings account, which works like other types of debit cards. They can be loaded with a predetermined amount of money per year and then spent at approved schools, either public, charter institutions, or private/parochial.
Wigfall says competition increases efficiency and it forces districts to prioritize classroom time. She says there has been a drift away from fundamentals to a range of social topics. Repealing standards that mandate race and ethnicity-based instruction was also touched on at the hour-long event.
Other items mentioned are a repeal of tax increases, including new registration and license tab fees. The group also recommends new nuclear power facilities and a reworking of paid family leave policy that does not require a new department and an expanded bureaucracy to implement.
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