Fairmont Sentinel: Of course Minnesota should scrap seniority

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In other words, the owners of the schools - the public - deserve quality employees. Who determines what constitutes "quality?" Well, as in any walk of life, managers oversee subordinates. If local school boards want to put in place an appeals process for those laid off, we believe that may make sense. But the fundamental principle at stake remains clear:?The people running the schools should be in charge of employment decisions.

Reform 2.0 Bill Is Signed Into Law; Other Bills Making Progress

Basic skills bill signed!

Governor Dayton Wednesday signed the bill to require teaching candidates pass the basic skills exam before getting their teaching license. The bill passed with nearly unanimious support. http://www.bringmethenews.com/290890/. The link between education reform and a strong economy was spelled out well last week in two newspaper editorials. http://www.minnesotahousegop.com/reformblog/2012/2/20/the-link-between-education-reform-and-a-stronger-economy.html

Welfare reform

This week the Health and Human Services Reform committee passed three bills pertaining to welfare reform. These bills make modification to the Minnesota Families Investment Program (MFIP) and Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) Cards.

Last year GOP lawmakers started with the goal to improve welfare reform, they made major strides last year. This included helping taxpayers by prohibiting the purchase of alcohol and tobacco with EBT cards and ensuring the fraudulent use of a card will result in loss of benefits, which in return will cut down on persistent cheating.

The first bill this year, HF 1956 https://www.revisor.mn.gov/revisor/pages/search_status/status_detail.php?b=House&f=HF1956&ssn=0&y=2012, will require that offenders possessing multiple welfare EBT cards be reported by law enforcement departments to the commissioner of human services.  Enforcing this bill will cut down on fraudulent use of the card and persistent cheating.

The second bill, HF 2080 http://www.minnesotahousegop.com/billtracker/2012/1/24/hf-2080-hf-2081.html, modifies the MFIP program by:

1. Reducing the maximum time limit from 60 months to 36 months.
2. Reducing the income maximum from 115 percent to 100 percent of the federal poverty guidelines.
3. Disqualifying persons convicted of a drug offense within the past ten years.
4. Requiring criminal history background studies at the time of application and recertification to determine if an applicant or participant has been convicted of a drug or other disqualifying offense.
5. Modifies approvals to reduce the number of approvals for noncompliance a participant receives before the MFIP case is closed.

The modifications to the MFIP will improve the system to help those who need the assistance and eliminate those who abuse the system.

The last bill, HF 2081 http://www.minnesotahousegop.com/billtracker/2012/1/24/hf-2080-hf-2081.html, makes a technical correction to the statute, passed last year, which requires a recipient’s name on their EBT card to ensure the person receiving the card is the one using it.

The work done by the legislature last year helped to improve the welfare program. This year the GOP lawmakers hope to continue the changes needed for these programs. These three bills will help to continue the process and the state of Minnesota in preserving the integrity of the welfare programs. 

What members are saying

Representative Duane Quam http://www.house.leg.state.mn.us/members/pressrelease.asp?pressid=5418&party=2&memid=15366

This week, the bulk of our time in the Minnesota House was spent hearing Reform 2.0 bills in committee.  As of last week, 37 bills have been introduced from the Reform 2.0 agenda, 23 bills have received hearings, and a total of 34 hearings have been held. Six bills have passed the Minnesota House - all with bipartisan support; and four have been vetoed by Governor Dayton. 

This week's committee hearings centered on rulemaking moratorium and other rulemaking reforms, online/digital learning in schools, and tackling welfare reform.

Representative Kelby Woodard

http://www.house.leg.state.mn.us/members/pressrelease.asp?pressid=5374&party=2&memid=15371

A key issue we currently are working on at the Capitol is the much-needed reform of our commercial property tax system. This is the only statewide property tax in existence and has been a key factor in limiting the competitiveness of our local businesses.

The nonpartisan Tax Foundation recently ranked our state 45th worst in its State Business Tax Climate Index for 2012. The report pointed to our complex, non-neutral taxes with comparatively high rates as key factors in our poor business climate. The good news is that we are committed to the proven reforms that will improve our business climate in Minnesota. I believe the phase-out of this tax is far more effective than short-term or one-time tax incentives that most entrepreneurs are reluctant to embrace.

Bill Tracker – A sampling of Reform 2.0 bills moving thru the Legislature.

Introduced

HF 2348 http://www.minnesotahousegop.com/billtracker/2012/2/23/hf-2348.html

Conduct the first return-on-investment report for state healt care programs.

HF 2212 http://www.minnesotahousegop.com/billtracker/2012/2/15/hf-2212.html

End the mandate requiring art in public buildings that drives up costs.

Passed Committee

HF 2095 http://www.minnesotahousegop.com/billtracker/2012/2/16/hf-2095.html

Bring more efficiency to the permitting process.

HF 673 http://www.minnesotahousegop.com/billtracker/2012/2/14/hf-673.html

Require an analysis of improved public value for bills that spend money or add regulations.

Follow the Reform 2.0 Bill Tracker for the complete list. http://www.minnesotahousegop.com/billtracker/

The link between education reform and a stronger economy

Education reform is a key part of Reform 2.0, and this op-ed in the St. Cloud Times shows how improved education and job growth go hand-in-hand:

Minnesota businesses have traditionally distinguished themselves with their ability to compete in the global marketplace. A highly trained workforce drives our success.

The bad news: That excellence faces a shaky future due to an unsatisfactory disparity in K-12 student performance. Minnesota has among the widest achievement gaps in the country — persisting among racial groups as well as across socioeconomic levels. The problem surfaces from Worthington to Duluth, from Winona to Moorhead.

The good news: We can change our course if we focus on teacher quality — the single-most important in-school factor in determining student success.

 The St. Paul Pioneer Press hit the same theme in its Saturday editorial:

Current high school graduation rates fall below that, at 76 percent overall and 50 percent for minorities.

"That means we're not refilling the labor pool with the same level of skill that's leaving it," Stinson said.

If the reason we came out of the recession more quickly is a better educated work force, then we need to be highly concerned about graduation rates and the achievement gap between white students and their peers of color, Stinson advises.

Minnesota's educated workforce is a powerful resource for Minnesota business, and education reform and workforce readiness issues are high on many legislative agendas, as they should be.

Reform 2.0, Week 4: Training and Keeping Great Teachers

Top story: Education

This week was encouraging for education reform advocates. Two crucial reforms aimed at improving the quality of Minnesota’s teaching force passed the House. Earlier in the week, the House voted unanimously to require teaching candidates to pass a basic skills exam prior to receiving a teaching license. The House also passed the LIFO bill, which authorizes school districts to base layoff decisions on a mix of performance evaluation and seniority. Under current law, seniority is the lone factor in teacher layoff decisions. Reforming this mandate will provide school districts the needed flexibility to retain the best teachers for our kids in order to improve academic achievement.

This week in the spotlight:

There is still more we can do to assist our business community and local governments in the permitting process. Sponsored by Rep. Fabian, HF 2095 builds on last year’s bipartisan environmental permitting reform. The bill would allow businesses to hire independent permit applicant professionals to oversee projects and require state officials to identify permit deficiencies within 30 days. This will make permitting less difficult and less costly for businesses, while contributing to an economic environment more suitable for job growth.

As aging baby boomers enter retirement, many are concerned how they will finance their care in the face of rising costs. Nursing home care can deplete an entire life-savings and leave families with nothing to inherit. This week, Representative Shimanski introduced HF 2254 which allows proceeds of an accelerated death benefit to be used for nursing home costs.

In essence, the bill would allow the conversion of life insurance benefits to a long term care policy. Under current law, the state requires those in nursing homes to use all their existing assets for the cost of care before Medicaid steps in to pay for it. By expanding the definition of life insurance to include long-term care, not only will the state save money in Medicaid, it will provide seniors flexibility for planning their future. Moreover, long-term care insurance will enable seniors to keep homes, farms, properties, and other assets within their families, instead of losing all they have for nursing home care.

Tracking reform 2.0:

• HF 1850 passed the State Government Finance Committee this week. This bill expands last year’s “gainsharing” initiative that provides state employees with a financial share of the savings from their own government reform ideas.
• Representative Franson introduced HF 2212 to end a state mandate that one percent of appropriations for public projects be spent on art work for state buildings.
• Representative Diane Anderson introduced HF 2251. This reform bill transfers health regulation power from the Department of Health to the Department of Commerce. Currently, the DOH regulates health management organizations (HMOs) and the DOC has jurisdiction over all insurance including health. Since HMOs and health insurance are related, it makes sense for both to fall under jurisdiction with the DOC which is better equipped at regulating insurance. This will create more transparency and efficiency in the system.

You can track all the Reform 2.0 bills as they move thru the Legislature using the Bill Tracker page at reform2.mn.

It's time to fix LIFO

Today (February 16), the Minnesota House will debate a proposal that would change rules regarding teacher seniority and layoffs.

The bill would – among other things - authorize districts to base any unrequested leave of absence, discharge or demotion on a mix of performance evaluation and seniority instead of only seniority. This Last In/First Out, or “LIFO,” is a long-standing policy that’s been the norm in much of the country, though Minnesota is one of the only about a dozen states that require it based on state law.

 “We mandate that schools use quality-blind seniority privileges for retention decisions. That doesn’t work; it’s being widely criticized. I think we’ll take a look at repealing that,” said Rep. Pat Garofalo, R-Farmington, in an interview with MPR earlier this session.

The LIFO policy has three major negative impacts: first, when districts conduct seniority-based layoffs, they end up firing some of our most highly effective educators. Such a policy is bad for students and schools.

Second, LIFO policies actually drive up the number of layoffs because junior teachers make less money, meaning more have to be let go in order to meet the overall amount of money they need to save.

Finally, LIFO disproportionately impacts the lowest performing schools. These schools have larger numbers of new teachers, who are the first to lose their jobs in a layoff untimely disrupting the schools that need the stability the most.

LIFO is one of the several education bills GOP lawmakers are pushing to pass this year. Two other bills that have been heard already are HF1860 which is a student-first bill that allows levy funding to follow students to a charter school within their home district. The other bill, HF1770, requires teacher candidates to pass the basic skills exam before obtaining a license in Minnesota.

Representative Petersen spoke about the LIFO bill on The Flag earlier this month: