HomeMy WebLinkAbout2016 03-16 Senate education debate includes student discipline, testing STAR TRIBUNEElpe:TW1111
Senate education debate includes student discipline, testing
Senate education debate includes
student discipline, testing
By: CHRISTOPHER MAGAN I cmagan@pioneerpress.com
April 27, 2016
Debate over how to best handle students who attack teachers punctuated a third day of mostly
bipartisan support for education legislation.
Minnesota senators on Wednesday rejected a proposal that would require school leaders to expel
students who were violent towards their teachers. Instead, they decided to create a working group to
examine the best ways to deal with student discipline problems.
Sen. Sean Nienow, R -Cambridge, used increased violence in St. Paul schools as an example for why
the change is needed. St. Paul schools rarely expel students even for violent behavior.
"This empowers teachers, it protects teachers and will make for a safer school environment," said
Nienow, the Republican lead on the Senate Education Committee.
But Sen. Chuck Wiger, DFL -Maplewood, who chairs the committee, disagreed with the proposal and
said school boards, teachers and other advocates prefer to make decisions on a case-by-case basis.
"The more I talked to school boards, they don't support this, they want the flexibility that comes with local
control," Wiger said.
Despite their disagreement over how to deal with student violence, senators did find a lot of things to
agree on during Wednesday's debate. They passed the policy bill for public education with a 51-9 vote.
The legislation from the Democratic -controlled Senate included several priorities backed by the
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Senate education debate includes student discipline, testing
Republican -led House earlier this week. The bill gives the most at -risk students better access to
preschool, creates a task force to streamline the way Minnesota licenses teachers and encourages
schools to give students a civics exam similar to the citizenship test.
There was bipartisan support to improve the security and oversight of the tests students take and
provide parents with better information about those exams. Senators also backed improving protections
for student data privacy.
On Tuesday, the Senate passed a higher education policy bill with a 59-4 vote. That bill includes
bipartisan initiatives like setting college readiness benchmarks and increasing student loan forgiveness
and other aid to attract more teachers to the state.
However, Republicans and Democrats remain far apart on how much new spending public schools
should receive in a supplemental budget up for debate Thursday in the Senate.
Democratic -Farmer -Labor Party members have proposed $96 million in new school funding and Gov.
Mark Dayton wants $137 million in new spending. House Republicans included no new spending in the
education bill they approved Monday.
Both parties do want to let some rural schools refinance existing construction loans at lower rates so
they can use the $55 million from early repayment for other priorities.
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