good afternoon everybody education policy um in the Senate we have Quorum we have four bills today Senator kunish will be leading us with Senate file 2998 and this bill will be laid over for possible inclusion in the Omnibus Bill Senator kunish do you have an amendment I do it is the A1 and um basically what it does is it just deletes uh section two of uh Senate file 2998 as we had already passed that piece of legislation last session okay thank you all those in favor of the author Amendment say
I I all those opposed motion carries begin Senator thank you so much Mr chair and members um today I bring before you uh an opportunity for for the legisl legislature to allow smudging in our schools a couple years ago St Paul I believe it was in 2022 I had um the privilege and honor to join uh St Paul Public Schools when they passed a resolution unanimously to allow smudging in their school and for those of you who don't know what smudging is it is a um a rather um sacred cultural practice of
our indigenous people uh across this this continent and it is a form of cleansing it's a cultural uh centering practice and uh it has been proven time and time again that when students are involved in their cultural practices and they are allowed to do the things that they have been prohibited from uh there are very very positive uh outcomes uh I don't know if you all know that um it was it's been uh illegal for our American Indian people to practice their uh culture their religion their sacred
practices until 1978 up until 1978 it was illegal to hold ceremonies it was illegal to smudge it was illegal to do any of those things and it took uh President Jimmy uh Carter to pass the American Indian religious act uh before it was actually legal to do this this kind of practice so for many um our ancestors were forbidden to practice any part of our cultures and this is included smudging so today I am asking for uh permission uh for schools to give permission for students or staff members to
use tobacco Sage sweet grass or Cedar to conduct individual or group smudging in uh public schools and of course we would expect um the schools to find a safe place under the proper guidance and supervision I I did bring for all of you um an example I think I don't have one for each of you but you know to smudge is basically to take a a shell a shell and put in either uh Sage such as this or tobacco or a cedar very small amounts it's not like when you go to some Churches and they load it up with
incense and you know kind of overcome you with the smoke and that sort of thing and there's a whole ritual that goes along with this um many folks will do this to help with their anxiety to Center them um in they need to do or what they've gone through uh to cleanse an area and uh so we would like to provide this opportunity for our our students um to have a space and have the opportunity to Pro uh to um go through this really sacred ceremony or practice when they're in school Under the right S
upervision in the place that the schools have have determined is best and with that uh Mr chair we do have a few um testifiers here the testifiers could come up um Beth tuppen Tupper sorry and kaani Lawrence would be the next speaker and identify yourself and make sure you sign in the record of your visit here thank you for your testimony you can testify first chair sadinski and members y Lota Chante wasi makap my name is Beth teer and my Lota name is good-hearted woman I'm an enrolled member of
The Standing Rock Sue tribe I also work work for Robinsdale area schools as the Director of achievement and integration I'm proud to be here today as the vice chair of the tribal Nations education committee and metro area schools representative at this time I would also like to recognize the work that St Paul public school students have done under the leadership of the um now late John bobalink he created a path for others to follow with their smudging policy their work helped me in Robin area
schools to follow suit in addition to other school districts we have nearly 30,000 American Indian students in the state of Minnesota who will benefit from smudging as a practice as this needs to be allowed in our Public Schools our students sometimes live far away from their tribal Nations and attend Metro Area Schools where our cultural Traditions are being practiced and supported by Indian education programs with guidance from our American Indian parent advisory committees when students famil
ies and staff are able to smudge with our sacred plant medicines of sage Sweet Grass Cedar and tobacco it allows us to keep honored ceremonial practices in our schools we need this to help keep us centered our mind our body our Spirits need to be in Balance so we can do things in a good way in the area of speci education I am also advocating for smudging to be included in individualized education plans or IEPs sometimes there can be a lag of service for our students allowing this accommodation a
s districts without smudging policies have been putting families on hold until they figure it all out students staff and staff should not have to go outside to smudge doing so sends a message that this isn't a culturally inclusive practice to think it was actually illegal for us to practice our religion until 1978 we are not just a protected class we are also we hold political status within the state of Minnesota as citizens of our tribal Nations we want our Public Schools across the state of Mi
nnesota to have culturally affirming spaces and practices for American Indian students and families I also strongly believe this work cannot be done without the inclusion of our American Indian staff and and our American Indian parent advisory committees which need to be included in the process adding this smudging policy will help our schools who may not have their own in place personally this affects me also as a parent of a student uh my son Aiden attends High School in Burnsville um he will
be a senior next year I would love for him to have the opportunity to smudge freely in in his school before he graduates uh thank you for your time and consideration pedia mwit thank you kaani Lawrence I think virtu by chance Emily balen venuea Michael Perez Mr chair I think they were all coming with uh Miss Nash Suzanne Nash um and I don't know that they are here right now so miss Nash is not here either I don't see her out there perhaps if they do um attend we can revisit this and hear from th
em before the end of our our Committee hearing so do we put this on hold no we can continue but maybe give them the opportunity to speak at the end of our Committee hearing okay so we'll lay over the bill okay um chair are we going to discuss it sure of course how can we dismiss your wonderful discussion skills I'm sorry I did I appreciate the idea that my discussions are wonderful I know I enjoy sitting I consider sitting here at the table another wonderful things um Senator abler you have the
FL well thank you Senator kunish I um am unaware of this until I read the bill and thought that kind of interesting um and so um so there's a spiritual connection to this is that correct very much so all right um and I'm if I'm anything I'm a champion of religious and spiritual Freedom everywhere um and so um I'm happy to support your bill um I don't know where they would do it or all that but I also just want to raise another thought um there are some students in schools who might be Muslim or
might be Christian might be Buddhist and they may also want to express some of their faith matters um and other matters of Faith have come up over the course of this year um this the last couple this last two years that I think just warrant uh equal respect and attentiveness and so sometimes that hasn't been the case and so if I can encourage people as we go forward with this that we'd also be aware that others who might be interested and some might I mean I don't know if anybody's offended by t
his I mean maybe they would be I just don't know but they would be taken into consideration as well as this group would act out its things uh I know that um you know sometimes uh prayer meetings at school have been allowed and sometimes they've not been allowed and so I hope that as we go forward with this openness toward that that we can be consistent so and I I want to thank you for bringing it forward thank you very much certainly Mr chair and I I agree with you I think we do have to be respe
ctful of the the broad array of cultures and and um practices of our students it wasn't so long ago that we um asked for space for our Muslim uh students to be able to pray throughout the day and and I think we passed that so I think uh you know this is more of a uh we're asking the schools to allow this you know more permissive and um we would ask I guess I would ask that the schools look to the best interest of our students so um I think when we allow something for one doesn't mean we're disal
lowing for others and it does look like um more of our our um testifiers have arrived thank you any other Senators care to weigh in before we hear from the students or are these he okay here we go are you ready Kanani Lawrence and Emily Bell and V Venza if you could come up and identify yourself for the record and make sure you sign in thanks for being here thank you you want to say your name and then you can um Bou kyani indigenas hello everyone my name is kylani Lawrence I'm 15 I'm from Standi
ng Rock in Red Lake and I go to Roosevelt High School I think sponging in schools should be allowed because we should be able to practice our culture in schools I remember when I was in Middle School they made us go outside to smudge otherwise we weren't able to do it at all because they thought we was smoking weed and even now in high school we still don't smudge a lot for that reason and if we do we have to be cautious about it because they think it's a bad thing but it's not it's our medicine
um Bou Emily Inda I'm 15 years old and I'm from low Sue we smudge to help cleanse ourselves get rid of the negative and bad energy energy and Spirits Sage is one of our four medicines we also do it to be more connected to our cultural teachings I like smudging because it makes me feel more connected to my culture and helps with my mental health we should be allowed to smudge cuz this is part of our culture Mech thank you girls thank you both Michael Perez thank you for that it's a very nice ges
ture um you're up okay Buu best dis Thea hello my name is Michael my spirit name is Michael I'm 13 I'm from Lee Lake and I'm gu Allen kids and teachers should be able to smudge because it is sacred and one of our forign medicines we use it to cleanse ourselves and calm down most smudging it has been used for ceremonies and put in our medicine pouches has been used for years and years it Wards off evil spirits and helps protect our people when we smudge in a classroom in the morning or the aftern
oon it is always nice to do and everyone calms down the class is quiet this is my reason why we should not get rid of smudging in classrooms me quit me qu thank you and La last on my list is Susan Nash thanks bu the principal M he's coming up okay I said to you is hello in my language my name is suzan Nash and my um Indian name is Spirit name means neon which means the brown bird that survives the winter um tobacco was the gift that was given to us um for medicine and offering in prayers the sam
e way the wafer and wine was given for Catholics for prayer so that's what we used before it was colonized and we still use it today for those purposes and um smudging is also another way for us to deal with uh negative energy anxiety uh to clear the air before we start meetings before we start school before we start prayers um and all the gifts that they were given to you today the tobacco pouches were smudged off before you got them when I brought them today so when we do something or we ask s
omebody for something or an elder or somebody we offer them the tobacco tie and we ask them that is I'm asking you to do something for me so I'm offering this prayer for you so um thank you and I hope that we will you know be able to do this um I work at Northeast Middle School quarterly I go help out there we do tobacco um ceremonies in group and we offer our prayers and you know we talk about commercial tobacco as um not um the same as traditional tobacco and that we use it in a special way so
it's um changing their relationship so they will not smoke it's that prevention culture is prevention and that's how we use it so I'm grateful to be able to be here today to ask you to vote for smudging in our schools M below okay thank you any Senators Kera um I I do believe that Mr roow is here as well he made it great so I just sent them down to get him so Vern Ro great take yourself down identify yourself welcome thank you sorry for my target Middle School principal so okay well I'll I I'll
try to be more lenient than I hope you are all right thank you good afternoon everyone U my name is Vernon raw I'm the principal at Northeast Middle School I am um honored to be here today to to speak on you know the things that we do with smudging at our school because it's actually a way in which we just start off the day with our students um you know all students are welcome to the smudging process um they come in and they you know when they come in off their buses or they get dropped off we
really do the the smudging because it actually just starts it sets the atmosphere for school you know it's a peaceful you know solution um and truly with us being a a native pathway school we want to make sure that we adopt some of those cultural things that actually our kids can identify with and then it also is about us teaching other kids that may not have those backgrounds how to become more diverse and well-rounded in terms of being those citizens that we want them to be so we've been a a
pathway school for the last seven years um for a middle school and we service native students that live on the North side of Minneapolis as well as on the northeast side and a portion of Southeast um so we have probably like around close to 60 identified native students um and the other students that we do Service as well that haven't been identified is just because they haven't filled out the 506 form um which actually gives them the identity for being native and what we've actually seen you al
l is that just starting off peaceful that way it creates an atmosphere in our building that is rewarding um we do it every morning um and then our kids also take ojibway as a language for um our our native students as well so um we're just seeing some positive things that are actually you know setting Trends and and and and things and then also respecting cultures and communities um and and that's what we want to teach our kids we want them to be upstanding citizens that they're well-rounded the
y understand their responsibility and understanding that responsibility they also have the voice to be able to make sure that they can bring forth effective change um which we know in many of our cultures and many of our societies we need to see those things so um I want to make sure that I was here to speak to those things and I thank Suzanne for inviting me to be able to you know to speak on the positive things and I welcome you all to come out and you can be a part of that as well um where yo
u can see what it does for a school Community thank you thank you and um as my wife would always remind me there's a special place in heaven for Middle School Educators so I hope I get there Senators any comments questions um thank you especially the young people that took time out of school to come down today we love hearing how decis the decisions we make here and don't make here impact um your lives and it's a nice reminder of Taurus that you take time to come down and see us and when um Sena
tor kunish and I were kids growing up um they would um our teachers would tell us when you got off at Ellis Island you joined the Melting Pot and you became an American and you gave up your heritage and your culture and your beliefs and your your family history to become an American and when I um started teaching something didn't seem right about teaching my students about this concept called The Melting Pot um CU it seem so foreign to giving up our ideals and our beliefs and everything that mak
es us unique and um so I started call I um I'll never forget the time I made them um cross out in their books and at first they didn't want to do it because to write in the textbook was sacrilegious and I said it's okay no one will find out and I told them to cross out the word Melting Pot in their textbook and replace it with the word salad ball that you come to um not that you came but I mean we all came here at some point um and to ask um to be give to give up your uniqueness was is a tragic
part of our history and so um thank you all for testifying and and what you brought to the table and Senator kunish I continually amazed by your your um efforts on all things trying to make our schools more inclusive so than you any final comments no I thank you all for listening carefully and intently and uh would ask for your support for um this Senate file 2998 and uh to be included in the inclusion of your Omnibus Bill thank you next up Senator Guston Senate file 3540 this bill will also be
laid over for possible includ in the inclusion in the Omnibus Bill and whenever you're ready Senator thank you Mr chair members of the committee Senate file three 3 450 builds upon bipartisan work that has gone into improving the Minnesota Charter School law uh since its Inception in 1991 legislators have worked with schools and other important stakeholders over the years to strengthen the law by the goal of serving our public school students as the at the highest level this bill was written in
consultation and collaboration with stakeholders to address many of the issues charter schools have asked for Clarity on to address issues that have Arisen through mistakes or gaps in our accountability structures that have created problems for school communities and to be proactive on possible issues that may come up in the future in short Senate file 3450 encompasses the important steps in accountability and transportation I'm sorry transparency to improve upon the charter school law uh here's
what the bill does one it clarifies legal definitions such as conflict of interest issues Board of eligibility for teachers and anti-nepotism policies two it enhances chartered Public School Board of go board governance by strengthening training requirements in an important area such as with the oversight of academic Student Success and achievement and oversight of school financial management it also strengthens Charter School Board conflict of interest provisions and changes board terms of off
ice to better match the school calendar starting in July 1st it also clarifies and enhances professional development requirements for school administrators this bill requires training for new licensed administrators on relevant areas to Charters such as Charter School law and requirements board management Charter contracts authoriz authorizer relationships this bill requires yearly training for unlicensed administrators on essential areas such as instruction and assessment financial management a
nd state accounting and finally it clarifies the role of authorizers and mde in the accountability process this bill outlines the role of authorizers more clearly in statute it's strengthens language on the authorizer accountability review process and it strengthens transparency requirements in the process it also strengthens authorizer conflict of interest policies such as prohibiting a charter school employee or board member from serving on the board of the school's authorizer the point of thi
s bill is to help provide improved guidance and Clarity for chartered Public School leaders boards and authorizers in strengthening accountability with this sector with over 180 chartered public schools operating in Minnesota the continued maintenance and Improvement of the charter school law is essential to sustaining a healthy sector that serves our public school students in um innovatively and effectively I'd like to point out right now that this is a bipartisan bill and I think Senators man
and Coleman and abler um in joining with me on this bill and I would like to yield my time to the bill testifiers if that's all right with you Mr chair Joy Chena identify yourself thank you good afternoon thank you Cher vinski I'm Joey chenyan I am the executive director uh of the Minnesota Association of char schools and thank you members of the committee for hearing this bill today uh and thank you for this opportunity to speak today uh Minnesota Charter Public Schools are tuition-free indepen
dent public schools that are open and welcome to all students no matter ability or need and are governed and operated jointly by licens teachers parents and community members this bill SF 3450 presented before you today encompasses what we see as the important next steps in accountability and transparency to improve upon Minnesota's Charter School law we have worked on this bill Consulting with schools and many important stakeholders in our sector to proactively strengthen the law and in turn co
ntinue to strengthen our schools so they have the appropriate guidance and training to continue to effectively govern and serve their students families and communities at the highest level today we'll highlight three areas of the bill that work to strengthen accountability and transparency first this bill clarifies and enhances professional development requirements for Charter School administrators based on internal calculations at my organization over the past 5 years there have been over 100 S
chool director turn turnovers in Minnesota chared Public Schools that's a turnover rate estimated about 10.8% a year many folks stepping into to new administrative roles come from traditional districts they're either former principles or superintendents and many are unlicensed professionals that come from other fields or expertise such as teachers business or nonprofit Community leaders considering recent turnover rates and the diversity of school leadership experiences improved and expansive tr
aining requirements and statute will help our school leaders be successful this bill requires yearly training for unlicensed administrators on important things such as instruction and assessment financial management or special education law and it requires training for new licensed administrators in their first year on unique areas to working in charter schools this bill also enhances chared Public School Board governance by enhancing board training requirements amongst other CH changes such as
strengthening conflict of interest provisions and finally this bill clarifies the roles of authorizers and statute authorizers have an extremely important role in the accountability structure for chartered Public Schools as they conduct monitor oversight and evaluation of academic operational and financial performance in the contracts they oversee this bill outlines their role more clearly in statute and strengthens language and the authorizer accountability review process with mde this bill als
o strengthens conflict of interest requirements and it strengthens transparency as it requires findings from the performance review process to be shared with the schools that they authorize it requires training of authorizer staff on the role and responsibilities of authorizers to be documented mented and it requires the school termination hearings to be recorded preserved and made public we've worked on this bill with multiple authorizers on negotiations on the language of this bill they are no
t opposed to the language in this bill strengthening accountability structures enhancing Clarity and transparency in statutory requirements and continuing to strengthen conflict of interest protections will help all of Minnesota's chartered Public Schools continue to successfully carry out the important purpose of chartering we encourage you to please pass this bill SF 3450 which we call the next steps of accountability for chartered public schools in Minnesota to continue to strengthen Minnesot
a's Charter Public School law thank you very much for your time thank you and I do believe our next three speakers are all virtual so um we're going in the order of Dr Brett wedland Dr mag Cavalier and Alissa Rafa chair wisinski and esteemed members of the committee thank you for allowing me to testify today I'm Dr Brett wedland and I bring over two decades of experience in public education for the past 5 years I've served as the executive director at Nova Classical Academy in St Paul where we s
erve over a, K12 students our recent achievements speak volumes Nova classical has proficiency rates in reading and math that are ranked within the top five among all Traditional School Districts and Charter schools in Minnesota we've been honored with the National Blue Ribbon award and recognized as an exemplary achievement Gap closing School in 20123 we were the sole recipient of this designation in Minnesota throughout my 10 years in Charter School leadership I've observed a crucial link betw
een effective governance from the school board and the overall success of the school Nova classical's consistent governance has been instrumental in us being able to maintain a Clear Vision and Achieve our high levels of academic achievement however navigating the complexity of Charter School governance presents unique challenges particularly regarding the composition of the board and members roles Charter School boards are mandated by state laws to include teachers parents and Community Represe
ntatives often this results in a teacher majority board to ensure the success of these boards and the schools they oversee oversee it's imperative that members swiftly adapt to their roles as Trustees for the whole school rather than as mere delegates of stakeholder groups that's why I wholeheartedly endorse Senate file 3450 this legislation mandates comprehens of training for new charter school board members covering their roles open meeting law and data practices before they start their duties
additionally it mandates ongoing training throughout their first year focusing on policies fiscal oversight and student achievement it also contains wording to ensure that the training received in these areas is provided by quality providers as the leader of a successful charter school where we have worked diligently to develop a highly effective governing body I firmly advocate for this legislation it seeks to fortify oversight of charter schools and Elevate the enti entire Charter School move
ment thank you for considering this important matter thank you Dr Cavalier good afternoon Mr chair and members of the committee my name is Dr mag Cavalier I am a licensed teacher principal and superintendent I served as the executive director for 16 years at St Paul City School just a block west of the capital at University Avenue St Paul City school is in its 25th year and currently serves just over 600 students when compared with the state averages the school serves a higher percentage for th
of those who speak more than one language and those who qualify for free or reduced meals last month I transitioned to the role of Chief Network work officer for collaborative student transportation a National Organization located in Northeast Minneapolis committed to providing safe and reliable special education mckenny vento Transportation I continue to support charter schools in an advisement capacity my formal training through a lure program had a direct impact on my ability to meet the uniq
ue needs of a charter school as a mentor of mine shared a charter school leader is running a school and a small business Minnesota state law does not require an administrative license for Charter School leaders I fully support this approach however there must be consistent professional development provided to leaders to ensure the health of charter schools and increase the retention of school leaders in The Last 5 Years 43% of Minnesota Charter Schools have seen at least one director turn over a
ccording to Buckman 2021 School leaders play a vital role in the educational environment Studies have shown that schools of principal turn turn over show a decreased in student achievement poor School climate and culture and lower graduation rates there's also a financial cost associated with leader replacement and a negative impact on teacher turnover as you know School Finance is complex this is compounded in smaller schools Charter School leaders often function as principal superintendent and
business manager it's a tough job to do well the high turnover in the role limits a person's ability to gain experience there have been several instances where my formal training via the lure program and the professional development that I independently sought helped me grow as a charter school leader there are many internal and external factors that have a significant impact on a schooli on school Finance C and cash flow such as enrollment flow of funds from the state and demographics to Only
Name a few consistent professional development will ensure that all School leaders have access and are accountable to best practices and this should not be something that is learned on the job so in closing I fully suggest the revisions included today to include trainings for Charter School leaders in the areas of instruction assessment curriculum design human resource and personnel management professional ethics child development financial management legal compliance management special educatio
n oversight contract management effective communication cultural compet competency board and authorizer relationships parent Rel relationships and Community Partners thank you for your consideration and time this afternoon thank you and the last testifier on my list is Alyssa Rafa thank you um chair swedzinski members of committee thank you for the opportunity to testify about the charter school administrator Provisions in Senate file 3450 my name is Alisa Rafa I'm the executive director of Minn
esota Online High School which we call minnow a public charter school now in its 19th year of operation I became licensed in Minnesota as a high school science teacher in 1984 the first 20 years of my career were in two large District alternative programs both of which gave me the opportunity to develop as a leader in 2004 three colleagues and I founded minnow where I started as academic director in 2008 I enrolled in a master of education program at bigi State University and through that progra
m progr did the coursework required to add a district superintendent endorsement to my license this filled in some of the gaps in my qualifications especially in the areas of assessment human resource management and financial management in 2012 the executive director of minnow resigned and I felt well equipped to accept the position since then I've mostly relied on and sought out myself the Minnesota Department of Education the Minnesota Association of Charter schools and similar organizations f
or ongoing training and support since it was first past Minnesota's Charter statute has created professional opportunities for teachers like me to innovate on behalf of students and this is wonderful leaders of small to medium Charters wear many hats and must develop Knowledge and Skills in many areas some common to all school districts and some unique to chartering I support the proposed new policy language on Charter Administration in this bill because it supports School leaders success by req
uiring training and support and by establishing better accountability at the same time it makes room for many paths to success depending on individual leaders academic background employment history and skill set it gives Charter Schools the important latitude to develop leaders from within or to hire those with more traditional training and make sure they understand about Charter's unique needs I encourage the committee to pass this bill to ensure effective School leadership for Minnesota's Publ
ic Charter School students thank you very much for your time thank you Senators any questions comments Senator abler thank you Mr chair that was wonderful testimony um anyway wonderful is the day the word of the day uh and most you know that uh uh back in 1994 uh uh two families of ours founded the pack charter school and curiously enough language is being repealed on line 1331 without holding a valid administrator's license came from me uh with the help of Senator Olsen back in the time and als
o the even funding that you enjoy compared to District funding that was the other thing we did as as late people um so if you're here long enough Mr chair all of your good work will be repealed so um that's how it isn't that sad anyway maybe just parts of it um and I uh I support the bill because it comes from the groups but I want to caution the groups um Charter Schools uh we were the ninth one and the first one in the second year of having them back then uh were meant to be in my mind Laborat
ories and kind of off the beaten path and bringing ideas into the the general other public uh venues to see what we can do better as we have experiment I wish there was more of that um but I hope that as you with this bill which wrote and you all thought about it I'm far enough away not to be even worried about your details and I'd like the tightening up of rest of requirements and you certainly evolved a lot and it's not what it was you know 30 years ago Mr chair um anyway but um I I hope as yo
u go forward if you see some of these you know requirements on administrators and authorizers are burdensome so you have a hard time getting an authorizer who's otherwise really qualified or finding administrators who would be happy to be your administrator uh that this is just a little much work I don't know what Competency Based means and uh but I mean it's it's evolved a lot and I'm you know happy to support charters in general I think another place for students to go besides the regular trad
itional public school has been helpful to so many people and Mr uh chair just to point out that today a pack Charter School of now Ramsay is going to be ribbon cutting its new high school so how about that anyway thank you to the authors and the charge of school people and keep up the good work and uh you know thank you Senor May Quade uh thank you Mr chair um and Senator gson I this might be for you but it might be for somebody else um I have a question on the very first page 1.8 1.9 um just th
e changing of the goal and purposes of charter schools will you just talk to me a little bit about the goal behind that section change Mr chair if it's all right with you I'll let my testify our respond yeah in this section thank you Senator I appreciate it uh Joey chenan uh executive director of Minnesota Association of charter schools in this section uh what we're trying to do here is is to really clarify in statute the goal and purposes of charter schools in a way that is not only clear but a
lso is uh connected to the uh the charter contract that a school has with their authorizer and so if you see here uh there are mult purposes of Charter Public Schools in including increasing quality learning opportunity for all students encouraging different and Innovative teaching methods uh measuring learning outcomes and create different Innovative forms of measuring outcomes establishing new forms of accountability for schools and also creating new professional opportunities for teachers inc
luding the opportunity to be responsible for the learning program at the school site in this bill uh the documentation of the implementation of those purposes will be a component of their authorizer performance review because it's just such an important part of what makes Minnesota Charter Schools unique to think about these things particularly the Innovative Spirit of a Charter Public School um thank you Mr chair and again this just might end up being for you and that's totally fine um there we
re a lot of places where there was deletions but then it showed up later in a section that was just more elaborate I think the one that I didn't see and it's okay if it if I missed it is on line 3.7 3.8 the authorizer must participate in Department approved training did that move anywhere else or is that just a deletion uh chair cinski uh and senator may thank you uh that that line was deleted and we're currently in conversation with the Department about uh the inclusion of that line again thank
you thank you Mr chair thank you that's super helpful and uh would you mind just saying a little bit more about what those conversations are like uh yep we've met met um multiple times with folks from the Minnesota Department of Education amongst many other stakeholders on the language of this bill uh and uh we're kind of having back and forth conversations about things in the bill that are are great in some language areas that uh we're giving Clarity to and some things that uh down the road we
may look at and say uh in this process uh we would for example in that line uh 3.7 to 3.8 uh we may reincluded that as this moves through the process thank thank you Mr chair okay yes thank you I I think um just candidly I you know I'd be interested to probably see it back in U but I like the rest of the articulation here so I appreciate that flushing that out and then this is a a question that I don't think is um contained in this bill necessarily but it came up when I was reading the parts ab
out the you know Fair dismissal act um under the Minnesota human rights Rights Act 363a whatever um that applies to you know the treatment of people and and public education in particular does do Charter Schools fall underneath that are they also required not exemp that was my last question thank you so much thank you anybody else Senator gusterson um it's rare that um testifiers come before us asking for more accountability and more and um you know more oversight so um it's a breath of fresh ai
r so thank you for that Senator gusterson thank you Mr chair thank you committee members um I yeah I will just close by saying I worked at a charter school for over three years um I think just a little bit to address to I believe it was the 3.7 line that you were talking about I know that Charter Schools um are part of what makes them wonderful and great options for other families is that they um Can are usually very unique and sort of fill in a gap that might be missing um for instance I Ted an
online charter school and for the students and the families there that was a godsent um it's not for everybody but for the families that choose to go there it probably made I know for certain as somebody who taught Juniors and seniors that was their last their last chance to get a diploma or they weren't going to go back to school and I think just when you're talking about training and I'm glad that you're open to looking at that line again I would just say that the training at my online Charte
r School would look much different than the training at like a brick-and mortar charter school and so I think that some of that on you know some of that autonomy of being able to spend time in the most efficient and useful way possible to the teaching staff and the admin is just by saying that Charter Schools sort of are a little bit more unique um in their roles in our public education system and just being able to address you know what makes most sense to those schools so that would be my clos
ing comment but thank you okay senator gustus um we're laying this bill over for U possible inclusion in the Omnibus Bill next up Senator kunish again Senate file 3746 whenever you're ready Mr chair I have before you um um the health education academic standards uh Bill uh Senate file 3746 but before we begin I have two amendments please I have the A1 that simply um adds uh the Minnesota Youth Council to the uh group of of uh folks that will have inputs on the standards all those in favor of the
author's Amendment say I I all those opposed okay Second Amendment thank you the the second one um adds just uh rearranges some of the priorities um and um moves the mental health education um into uh U the area that is is a requirement and then it just has a spelling correction as well okay all those in favor of the uh A2 author's Amendment say I I all those opposed the bill is where you'd like it proceed thank you Mr chair um I am so proud to be carrying this Senate file 3746 which will stand
ardize standardize our health education across the state I'm going to give you a brief introduction of the bill and then we'll ask the Senate council to walk through the language uh and we've already taken care of the Amendments um this Senate file 3746 will standardize health education in Minnesota which is really a crucial step towards ensuring that all students regardless of their location receive a consistent education related not only to their own health but also the well-being of their fam
ily their friends and their Community this bill utilizes the rul making process allowing for any and all interested parties to engage the Department of Education in the process currently health education is only a required subject matter that is not standardized rul making will allow for a transparent process that will require the input and the buyin of a variety of stakeholders and these stakeholders are compiled into the standards committee which participates in the rul making process they inc
lude parents of schoolage children teachers and faculty throughout the state school board members members of the Minnesota business Community representatives from the uh tribal Nations and now students with the input of the Minnesota Youth Council after the standards committee completes their recommendations there is will be Ample Ample opportunity for public comment and consideration Minnesota statute related to this matter specifically stipulates that the standards they create are clear and ob
jective and they do not require a certain teaching method methodology so simply put the process of crafting this bill and carrying it toward eventual implementation is a process that is objective and transparent it relies on important checks and balances while being open to the public at Key junctures I'd like to now invite Senate council to walk through the bill Miss Lewis um Mr chair and members uh um Senate file um 3746 if you page one section one um puts Health as uh one of the required stan
dards and Strikes the the former requirement of a a locally adopted expectation um section two is uh again striking reference to the locally adopted um uh Health standards and uh states that they um if you look at page three states that those locally adopted um standards still apply until the end of the 2025 2026 school year or until the Statewide standards are adopted and uh ready for implementation Statewide um section three is the direction to the commissioner to uh um uh to have Statewide st
andards um or to develop the Statewide standards section um where is it section four does not seem to exist my thing um is uh rul making uh I think lot of it was cut off but it's rule making authority to develop the um Statewide standards in health section five uh adds the health standards to the um revision and review cycle uh which is a 10year process for um the required um State Standards then uh um section six is the high school graduation requirement which would add um credits to satisfy th
e state standards in health uh once those uh new standards are adopted then section seven um is then what is the what the commissioner needs to include uh for for the rul making process as as what things are um required uh expectations and then uh starting on page seven uh line 11 then what are the optional expectations for Learning and then Section 8 is the um appropriation for uh the commissioner for the ru making work thank you Miss Lewis Senator kunish sure thank you Miss Lewis and thank you
um Mr chair so uh we all know that students in Minnesota have a right to an education that will enable them to understand and make well-informed decisions not about their own well-being and their own life but also from those um around them uh Mr chair if it's okay next to me I have cyony um bowly she's the vice president of strategic initiatives at the women's Foundation of Minnesota she's here to answer uh she'll be here to speak and to answer questions and provide testimony and then behind me
I have a number of other testifiers so thank you and I hope for your support M bowly thank you Mr chairman members of the committee good morning my name is Cynthia bowly good afternoon I apologize I'm the vice president of strategic initiatives at the women's Foundation Mr chair and members thank you for the opportunity to testify in support of Senate file 3746 we thank Senator Kunes for carrying this bill this bill will ensure that students across Minnesota will have the opportunity to learn w
hat they need to grow up safe healthy and confident the women's Foundation of Minnesota is a 40-year-old Statewide Community Foundation committed to advancing gender equity and supporting initiatives that allow women and girls to be healthy successful and safe we believe that policy and program should be built on data that's why we conduct research every two years with the Humphrey school at the University of Minnesota to understand what's happening happing in Minnesota and unfortunately we know
from research that students across Minnesota are facing a lot including preventable negative health and safety outcomes for example Research indicates that consistent health education is needed to address serious health concerns Minnesota uh ninth grade girls 60% report serious attempts at suicide 34% among boys 16% of 11th grade girls reports sexual abuse one in two LGBT plus students experience at least one form of discrimination nearly doubled in 10 years teen girls are less likely to be phy
sically active and participate in sports essential to their health and wellbe than their male counterparts the data in this report illustrates the need for a consistent Health standard across the state of Minnesota to ensure that students have what they need to make healthy choices and this health standard is needed to round out students education that is already prescribed by Statute for nearly 10 years we've had a requirement for students to have training on CPR and automatic defibrillator edu
cation important life-saving education which could also be terribly stressful if a student needed to use that training to help save a life so let's give them the mental health information and education to help them deal with that stress and the anxiety of a situation where a life might hang in the balance as they assist with CPR or defibrillator which they've been uh which they are required to be trained on we also support this bill because it will use a rulem process where there is a lot of opp
ortunity for public input students parents teachers health professionals and other interested parties can engage in a transparent process through the Department of Education and then through additional administrative process to create the recommended standard Minnesota Youth deserve accurate age appropriate appropriate standardized health education that equips them with the knowledge and skills they need to make informed decisions about their bodies and health related choices with the Statewide
Health standard students across the state will have access to the comprehensive knowledge about issues that affect their daily lives we urge you to pass this proposal and ensure students in Minnesota have access to education and health subjects that will allow them to live full and healthy lives thank you for your consideration should we go through all the testifiers and then ask questions okay thank you um Dr Eileen Crespo Hunter Beckstrom and Darian Lofton are the three next speakers good afte
rnoon Mr chair and members my name is Dr Eileen Crespo I have the honor of of serving as president of the Minnesota chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics our chapter represents over 1,000 pediatricians in the state we advocate for the health safety and well-being of our patients Minnesota's children I'm here to testify in favor of Senate file 3746 this bill aims to improve the academic standards for Minnesota students to include elements necessary for a well-rounded health education we a
re not doing a good job at preparing our children to live healthy thriving lives kids today are facing multiple challenges to their mental and physical health and the earlier that we can teach them about how to take care of their own health and well-being the better in my nearly 30 years working as a pediatrician in Minnesota I've seen ever increasing rates of mental health conditions such as depression anxiety uh especially among children young children and Adolescence higher rates of Eating Di
sorders childhood obesity and diseases such as type 2 diabetes among school-aged children as well as increased rates of bullying and exploitation in the absence of valid health education kids are turning to the internet and social media which often can present them with meth methods of self harm unhealthy weight loss tips and unrealistic body standards additionally Minnesota Minnesota's kids need to be educated about how to live a healthy life in the year 2024 and Beyond in a world filled with a
ccess to vaping and cannabis products marketed towards children where every kid has multiple social media accounts and where any child who's old enough to type can expose themselves to all of the information including misinformation and open communication of the internet we need to consciously do better by our kids by providing health education this bill would help ensure Children and Families from every corner of the state will receive consistent education related not only to their own health b
ut to that of their family and the community on behalf of the state's pediatricians I'm grateful to Dr Kunes for bringing this bill forward and I'd be happy to help answer any questions and I hope Dr kunish is okay thank you he is flattered by um her new job title oh that's right thank you good afternoon at cherwood vinski and members of the committee my name is Hunter Beckstrom and I am a prevention program coordinator at the Minnesota Coalition against sexual assault or manasa manasa's vision
is that of a world free from sex sexual violence in which all human beings are treated with dignity and respect and communities are transformed through safety healing and Partnerships our vision is directly in line with the contents of this bill and today we are demonstrating support for Senate file 3746 we want youth across the state of Minnesota to have access to education that provides the Knowledge and Skills to make informed decisions that will positively impact them throughout their lifesp
an mcasa has convened over 100 motans committed to this cause the health and well-being education standards workg group is combin comprised of Advocates Health Educators students parents and community members this Coalition of motan seeks to take actionable steps toward ensuring that all young people are equipped with the means to attain their highest levels of Health this work group includes both Health experts and those who would be most impacted by these standards students it is imperative to
listen to and uplift these voices and their experiences mass is dedicated to the primary prevention of violence primary prevention is taking steps to stop violence before it can occur the implementation of such Health standards would build foundational skills in effective communication teachings of consent and character development these core strategies on primary prevention aim to eliminate risk factors and promote protective Factor for motans this bill would facilitate collective Community ef
forts to prevent harm and Center positive Health outcomes to fulfill a vision of a world free from sexual violence transformative change is necessary Senate file 3746 provides the opportunity to make crucial Health improvements for all motans a holistic approach to health education is essential to preventing harm and creating safer and thriving communities across the state thank you thank you thank you and last on my list is Doran Lofton thank you so much welcome thank you um chair and members o
f the committee I'm Daren Lofton I'm a co-founder of a youth Le movement and organization called World youth connect and I'm also a current St Paul College student um with lots of unique experiences organizing and advocating for young people on issues of health and cannabis awareness with recreational cannabis bill passing this last legislative session um um and I'm testifying today in support of SF 3746 it is vitally important for students to have consistency in their health curriculum in Minne
sota and it will give students a chance to help make healthy decisions throughout their lives creating the Cannabis awareness education Council for youth uh has helped me understand how important it is for students how important students health is to them we hosted a series of listening sessions around the state um mostly made of high school students and we shared with them the issues around Youth and cannabis since cannabis was legalized there was a lot of decisions being made about young peopl
e in cannabis but there were no youth involved at the decision making T table a lot of young people were confused and felt like they should have been involved around decisions of Youth in cannabis education and we discussed curriculum such as dare um that's still in use and many students knew of it and they were in sync as they shared that it didn't work from what they saw um in their High School through these conversations I educated them on cannabis and its effects on youth um who use it at a
young age and many of them were shocked and didn't know much about it there's so much disinformation or simply no critical information about drugs and alcohol um and young people were more engaged in these listening sessions because they were hearing the information from other young people people who look like them so sorry um excuse me um young people were more engaged in these listening sessions because we were they were hearing it from people that looked like them and and one student pulled m
e aside um at the end of one of my listening sessions um and he thanked me as well as shared a personal experience as um that he has had with cannabis and told me wish he'd known about the effects of cannabis um before and asked how he could stay connected to cake the Cannabis awareness education Council um this legislation ensures that young people across the state will receive effective health education ensuring that is evidence-based and that it delivers the key health education that young pe
ople are hungry for as a state we need to be aware of how young people are learning about their own health and um the health of their communities I'm very supportive of the author's Amendment incorporating current students into the standardization process um one of Cake's key recommendations was to add youth to the state's cannabis advisory Council there was a list of around 40 47 people and no youth representation but it also makes sense to include them in designing in designing the content sta
ndards from our focus groups it's clear that we need young people to share what they are seeing with their peers and in schools this is the recommendation I thought to be most important because young people need to be at the table for all the conversations that impact them of all of our cake recommendations adding young people to The Advisory capacities is most critical the same holds true to this amendment um to include students to all standardized Capac uh standardized processes um young peopl
e deserve to have a voice in their standardization process of their health curriculum and I hope that you all vote to pass SF 3746 and include the author's Amendment thank you very much thank you all testifiers members questions any observations Senator Senator Coleman um thank you Mr chair I certainly appreciate the intent of the bill I just want to express a little where it makes me a little uneasy and a little nervous is when I first got into the legislature we saw parents upset with some of
the proposed social studies standards and we saw them feel helpless because at a certain point there wasn't much we could do and when they went before the board to express their frustration and concern they were openly mocked by the people on that board and so with this subject matter being arguably more sensitive I would hate to see it taken out even further away from the parents and who they're picking for local control to make this type of curriculum I would hate to see some sort of Health st
andards get past that pull even more students out of our schools because the parents are nervous about that subject matter and so it would just encourage us to maybe take another look at this and see if there's a way we can get across what we're hoping to get across but leaving it in as much local control as possible so those are my thoughts thank you Senator weisenberg thank you Mr chair I guess there's a word I didn't hear when we were speaking that was abstinence I hope that that's something
we could maybe include or make sure that we're teaching that um we we should be not promoting sex at a young age we should say maybe you shouldn't be having sex right um I think that's something we should we should talk about so thank you Senator abler wait my turn in line um Senator kunish um you know I like working with you you came down this is exciting we really need this I think I'm on the other side of that argument with you I uh I'm as unexcited about this as you are excited and there's c
ertainly some merits to this um I don't know it seems like when I first got here back and we just talked about you know charter schools and founding that as Innovation that school boards actually got to decide things there was local discussions and the people felt included in their decisions the more we take things to the state level I think it moves it away from that and I think the comments from Senator Coleman in particular are important and so will making doesn't make me excited and I apprec
iate all the points of view that were expressed and I agree with a lot of them uh but the process matters and I think people are truly actually going to be in some cases driven away from the public schools again which I I don't know how many things people can take as we pile on ways to have them go um so um so I have a question for you Senator Kunes um we talked about in the last of the smudging bill about how wonderful it can be that you know tribal students can experience Express their spiritu
al beliefs through the smudging and I was really nice that one of the I got this from that person so thank you very much for that maybe they left already but that was kind of cool um but so let's say that the the program gets all set up and there's some parents who just don't agree with parts of it based upon their religious beliefs how is that going to be handled Senator um Senator abler I think um we all know that uh parents do have the option to opt their children out of certain lessons or pr
ograms that they are not comfortable with their children being in when I first started teaching I taught sixth grade in North Minneapolis and I was on a team of four teachers in the sixth grade um team and I uh as the newest one um was chosen to be the health teacher and so we had a curriculum we had a book we had um activities that went along with with it and uh we followed through that that health book and it taught about um healthy choices for food for exercise um how to speak with one anothe
r so relationships it also talked about um how their bodies were changing and when it came to that point we were very specific in um um letting the parents know and of course the curriculum was always available to the parents to review and if the parents were uncomfortable with what we were going to be talking about because it did include the reproductive organs and and the process of reproduction the parents were free to um opt their children out and in the five years that I did that I did not
have one parent opt their child out I did not have one child that treated it disrespectfully um it was an incredible discussion we talked about things I never thought I would talk to a a classroom of sixth graders about uh they had so many questions about how their body worked how uh how to um abstain from sex but if they were to ever become active what were some of the ways to prevent different sexually transmitted disease we had a jar that um I kept out and I said you can put any question in t
hat jar and we will pull two questions a day and respond to those questions and um those I've never seen that group of students and remember I had to do that with all four classes so uh I've never seen a group of sixth graders so intrigued so interested so respectful and so wanting answers and information and there was homework they had to go home and do things their parents knew what we were talking about and at no time did I have a parent come in and and say I don't want my child to learn this
so in this day and age when parents are often times very very very much engaged in their students uh School the schoolwork the subject matter um there always is that option for parents if they are not comfortable with what their children are learning at that moment to to opt out Mr chair a of course thank you for that thank you um so I I appreciate that and I think that I can imagine you teaching that and I can imagine you being thoughtful and perhaps blushing once in a while or whatever I can
just I'd be blushing a lot if I had to do that class but um I think the times are a bit different now I think the experience of the families in was at St Louis Park uh they were told that they could not have to go to these particular things but there's been some push back and people are not going to be volun they're not going to be just told this they have to dig and inquire uh and there's even some move to have them uh I just read the article I was shocked about the push back and the lack of Fr
eedom that these Muslims families were going to be given to even to be aware because uh somebody besides them thought this needed to be given to their students and especially given the current changes in uh sexuality curriculums which has gone from this to like very large um I have to think that some people are going to be concerned about that both that the ru making process and in terms of what they're going to do so uh this is now a high stake standard they can't graduate without it so let's s
ay a parent opts out to a third of the curriculum who's going to decide if what they're putting in place of it is going to be good enough to let them graduate or are we just going to check a box and then I mean I'm concerned about the high stakes but also people are absolutely going to opt out and they're going to want to know ahead of time what they maybe have to face on this particularly um you know sensitive topic I think that will all be part of the process I can't tell you who's going to ma
ke those decisions right now but it certainly will be part of the process um just one more question Mr chair um and so um Anoka District just recently settled their contract um in the face of $6 billion that got spent um they gave the the teachers a very generous contract which was approved five to nothing which was surprised me that it was a unanimous vote but that puts our district in the whole over $20 million and we're going to be actually laying off at least 200 people many teachers and Par
as and I don't know the exact count but they're working on that um because they made a contract and so um I've now taken on a new look at different things we're asking the districts to do and you might see me asking this question so um assuming this goes forward how many teachers would we have to take away from reading reading and math to do this do you think is this going to require more staff that's my question um I don't know the answer to that who knows um this would um become effective in u
h let me see 20 26 and 27 excuse me where is that effective date okay here we go um students who begin Grade 9 and 2425 um complete a course for credit and P oh that's personal finance um so I don't know what the answer will be at that time um it's important to remember and again I was teaching my last five years were at the middle school level and a lot of this is already being taught maybe in the byed program uh maybe in other areas and so I I guess it would really depend what's the size of yo
ur school what's already available and um as this is implemented what are the um the other needs but we won't know until all of this is is uh in place and the schools are able to um have an idea of where they're going to put this Mr chair just finally um thank you but I hope that the Department of Education is listening to this conversation um I'm not here as some crazy person I'm here as a person who listens to people and I know that there's going to be some concerns by people who would otherwi
se love to be in the traditional Public Schools not even Charters just happily going to an NOA or Spring Lake Park or wherever um and I think those voices are as relevant as any other voice uh that we heard today and I hope that as the process goes forward that the pitfalls I have raised are are listened to and you actually have have a really quality meaningful program that does everything you hope Senator Kunes thank you very much thank you um senator may Quade thank you Mr chairman um Senator
kunish I appreciate you bringing this forward I think uh one thing to note for the record for anybody listening is that all of the standards that we're going to set Statewide are already articulated in statute and so what all we're doing currently is that each district is figuring out what those standards are and then adop curriculum to meet it so the the the requirements have not changed but the standards are all different and that is what we're going to be uh creating um standards uniform thro
ughout the state and it's on things like cannabis use and substance use education which is really important vaping awareness STI mental health education child sexual abuse prevention which I think is super important um violence prevention education character development and then safe and supportive schools this is this is vital education and we can't pretend that it is that Health curriculum isn't just as uh professionalized as math curriculum or as language arts curriculum and so I I think this
is really important when we don't give students information about a whole section that exists of of learning we do them a disservice and so I I'm very appreciative of this opportunity for us to make these standards Statewide and have this uh for all students um you know and I I think that when we substitute like sex ed for health we're doing ourselves a diss surface that's not what health is um and that is not the topic of conversation in classrooms I was just talking to my brother the other da
y and he was like oh I'm I'm eating like an apple and I was like oh good how many is that today and he's like I was like my Apple for the week and I was like for the week we're supposed to eat three to four servings of fruit a day you learned it in health right right and that translates into adult life but if we're not all learning those vitally important things about how many servings of food we're supposed to be eating or what it does to your brain or body when you smoke when you drink um it m
akes it that much easier to fall into bad habits and unhealthy things and and lose things like Health throughout your life so thank you so much for for bringing this bill forward and you know I as a parent really hope um the practice of telling our children when they should have sex which is what abstinence-based sex education is can stop happening because I think it's weird when adults tell children when they should be having sex no matter when that is so I hope that they will look at that and
these standards too thank you anybody else okay um I think um senator may Quade pretty much summed up where my head's at as well I would add gambling um to the curriculum at some point if we can um sometime maybe have take that offline um I got uh two comments and then a a question I think for Miss bowly um but I'll save that for last because it's more of a question for me than anything but I was astounded um when I found out there was no Statewide Health curriculum I was just flabbergast I was
I just had no idea that there was um no Statewide format on this um so when I was in high school it's no surprise but the only health class I had to have to graduate was called boys Foods boys Foods yeah that's the CL my health class t i yeah uh the culminating activity was I had to make a steak and a potato and um I don't know what grade I got but it certainly didn't prepare me for all the things that one of the testifiers um used the um the phrase a holistic child and and and creating not crea
ting but um a curriculum that reflects the the develop in child into a a great Citizen and um that holistic child needs a class like this one um that would help them maybe perhaps Save a Life someday if that's the one thing a kid gets out of a the a standardized health class is maybe they um use a def defibrillator on a child or an adult and saves that person's life but I do have um two questions quick um one I should know the answer to and I apologize but on line 37 it doesn't give a number um
and I know the social studies standards I was was there 40 people on that committee or some number like that is there any number to line 37 I mean it just lists all the groups does anybody know the answer to that and while you're looking for that and maybe there is no number it's just up to these groups that are going to be set up but I I plaud whoever um and this is to you Senator kunish whoever included um the youth Council onto that list that's a nice addition um but anybody know the answer t
o I think that is to be determined okay and then lastly um for Miss um bowly oh 25 people okay thank you whoever just sent that um the organization you're with is there ever been talk or research or anything and this is more just where my head's at that the health class would have would be divided based on gender is that ever come up or is that a ridiculous question or is there research that says kids are just more comfortable in a health class with um people that are their gender or I just whil
e you were testifying that thought popped in my head thank you Mr chairman um first let me just say you've come a long way from boys food class to to authoring my wife would disagree to authoring but no we greatly appreciated and supported your work to Pro menstrual products in schools so I will just thank you for that um we don't have any research on uh that we the research that we did share with you and we can share more with you is about the uh differences that different student populations i
n Minnesota experience when it comes to a number of these health related topics um I will just uh sounds like you did have boys food so I imagine maybe there was a girls food class but I also uh would to be truly representative of students in Minnesota I think we would uh caution against the idea of a binary gender uh differentiation for students um to make sure that we are being as inclusive as possible and I don't know uh the research that whether research would bear out the idea that we would
uh segregate students in any such way and with more just a thought it wasn't really an intellectual inquiry but your answer quite um was so thank you for that Mr chair I can tell you that when I I taught that that class for five years um it was always a mixed gender and we nobody ever had a problem and one of the really incredible things and the biggest learning is when kids learn from each other and they you know somebody might be afraid to ask a question but their classmate asks that question
and now they have that answer or there were questions or discussions that never entered that student's mind um and we were able to discuss it and so I I I felt that there was really not a necessity to to divide by gender for whatever reason um folks need to know about each other's bodies how each each other's bodies work how to be respectful how to care for themselves and others and um so I would not be one person I would be somebody who would not promote that kind of um um division but I know
there are there are groups that are more comfortable and that would be a decision at that place all right final remarks Senator Kunes uh just thank you all for uh listening and learning about this I think it is important that we um put this uh health education into the the um the Roundtable of standards and curriculum that we are constantly looking at it and making sure that our students have all the information that they have to be happy and healthy individuals in our society so thank you so th
e bill um Senate file 3746 will be referred to State and local govern and Veterans um all those in favor of sending the bill to that committee say I I all those opposed the eyes have it thank you the last bill today is testimony only on the um Senate file 3567 and we have four testifiers first up is Matt shaver Tanya Prince Ana Stark and Caitlyn Snider those are the that's who signed up ident you guys know the routine but identify yourself and make sure you sign in Mr shaver you're up thank you
chair swedzinski members of the committee good afternoon I'm Matt shaver policy director at Ed allies uh I want to thank you chair for carrying the governor's policy Bill and for opening up an opportunity to provide public comment um we support the proposed tweaks to the react uh in the bill and know that these will supplement the ongoing work among stakeholders on react 2.0 to ensure all students have access to structured literacy um looking at the licensure proposals here on May 17th 2023 the
federal office of special education programs oep sent a non-compliance notice to commissioner uh jet identifying that Minnesota's tier one special education license law was out of compliance with Ida because our lure law allowed someone to hold a tier one sped license for more than 3 years something that 17 total people in Minnesota have ever done the department returned the Department of Education uh our department returned a corrective action plan to oep on July 17th committing to limit the nu
mber of years someone can hold a tier one sped license to three years in order to be to fully be in compliance with ID our organization supports that change which is included in in uh this bill on line 2611 however we have questions and concerns about making changes to tier 2 license requirements as proposed beginning on line 2717 as o did not mention tier 2 in their memo to our state regarding our lure laws um and I don't think it's because they forgot to look or didn't understand our tiered lu
re system additionally MD's corrective action plan submitted to oep does not propose making changes to tier 2 I personally participated in conversations with oep and mde over the summer and into the fall on this matter and was assured by all parties that this issue was combined to tier one with that being the only area in lure that needed to be addressed the federal agency charged with holding our state accountable to idea said tier one is out of compliance but not tier 2 yet we're seeing a prop
osal to change tier 2 it's unnecessary and has the potential to become a barrier for teachers in our lure area with the greatest staffing needs to be clear we can bring our lure law our system into compliance with Ida without exacerbating teacher shortages or creating additional barriers or Hoops in our licens your system next we have concerns about pushing back public data reporting on the MCAS by 4 months MD does a fantastic job of meeting the current law which requires reporting on student ou
tcomes before before the start of the school year so we ask what problem does this solve and what is lost to families the public and schools by delaying finally going back to 2021 Senate file 788 Governor walls has sought to limit the use of prone restraint on children in public schools by all adults including school resource officers as we are all aware that provision finally passed last year and it's been said that there is a need for clarity in the law so it is disappointing to not see langua
ge from Governor walls in this bill that both clarifies and maintains the spirit and in ENT of last year's law to limit the use of prone in schools other than in situations involving imminent bodily harm or death it's not like prone restraint has gotten safer for children since 2021 so why are we abandoning such a clearly uh student centered position I want to thank you all for your time today and the opportunity to testify and for your public service to our state thank you Tanya Prince four we
have four testifiers we'll bring We'll have questions when all four have spoken hello before I start I'd like to let you know that I'm uh sharing an abbreviated version of what my submission was to the committee to be respectful of the time constraints Mr chair and esteemed members of the education policy committee my name is Tanya Prince I am Vice chair of ISD 279 oio Area Schools Board of Directors I'm here today to speak on behalf of concerned residents and families in my school district and
community and concerned board members across Minnesota the Education Code of uh Minnesota States the public schools of the state shall share serve the needs of students by cooperating with the students parents and legal Guardians to develop the students intellectual capabilities and life work skills in a safe and positive environment it defines defines the duties of school boards as the board must superintend and manage the district manage schools of the district adopt rules for their organizati
on government and instruction keep registers and prescrib textbooks and courses of study I'm here today to testify that the proposed changes under SF 3567 under the language of book Banning prohibited is an unprecedented departure from parent cooperation and the leg justly defined duties of school boards under state law school boards have been intentionally set up to Ure local decision making for policies and procedures of curriculum and instructional materials including School library books SF
3567 would strip school boards across the state of Minnesota of their clearly defined duties remove local critical local oversight and accountability to parents and constituents and concentrate decision-making power into a single unelected and unaccountable staff member second SF 3567 uses inflammatory and divisive language to imply that current establishment of content selection criterias and standards and the enforcement thereof constitutes book Banning across Minnesota school boards are revie
wing and updating School library policies selection standards and criteria uh to ensure Viewpoint diversity academically enriching content and engaging subjects to cultivate a love of learning and reading they are doing so while engaging families constituents and staff in these important discussions to create consensus on policies standards and procedures to ensure high standards of age appropriateness emotional development social and emotional intellectual development of students for whom these
materials are selected forcing The Collection management parameters in SF 3567 silences these critical Community conversations and replaces them with subjective and vague language that offers no standards or criteria throughout our work in education standards has always been the Hallmark of achievement and exists to set expect expectations for excellence and to quote encourage Learners to reach their maximum potential as stated in the education code's mission of public education in Minnesota lo
cal standards and policies for public school libraries is aligned to this goal finally the language and parameters under SF 3567 book Banning prohibited is in part redundant and unnecessary due to the Supreme Court ruling in the Board of Education VPO 1982 regarding Viewpoint discrimination but more concern is that it's actually in conflict with the Supreme Court's reading finding that upheld Schoolboard authority to set consistent Library collection standards and selection criteria justi as Bre
nnan with Justin Marshall and Justice Stevens concluded local school boards have broad discretion in the management of school Affairs and petitioners possess significant description to determine the content of their school libraries but that discretion may not be exercised in a narrowly partisan or political manner the language of SF 3567 only considers one component of case law and curiously explicitly excludes the appropriate role of school boards to apply standards and oversee this critical a
rea of the management of their school district amid declining achievement in Minnesota I implore the committee members to rethink this legislation and reaffirm the statutary duties of Minnesota school boards while also empowering local communities to have a voice and participate in the processes that govern their local scoreboard policies and apply to their children I thank you for your time and consideration of my testimony thank you Avana Stark chair and members of the committee I'm Avana Star
k and I'm a Fridley School Board member representing the Fridley school board and the superintendent in support of Senate file 3567 at Fridley Public Schools we are a world class community of Learners we aim to develop internationally minded students we challenge ourselves our students and our community to become caring and knowledgeable lifelong Learners who require and take action to create a better world our mission is to guide students in the development of learning skills to help them reach
their full potential I am here specifically in support of the language to Pro prohibit book Banning book bans shrink the world view for students and stalls their ability to learn about new cultures and ideas it stunts our growth as a community and as American Americans the push to ban books across the country is a threat to diversity of thought we must view these efforts through a global and historical lens in the past efforts to ban books occurred in order to manipulate control and defeat enti
re groups of people a few notable flash points in history include South Africa Banning Black Beauty in 1965 because it challenged apartheid Germany banned anti-german books in the 1930s the dark addresses Irish Catholic Church sexual abuse and that was banned The Bluest Eye by Tony Morrison has been in the top 10 list of band books since it was published in 1970 simply because it questions social standards of beauty related to race class and gender the list goes on but they all fall in the same
bucket of people in power seeking to protect That Power by Banning books these National battles are being fought and funded at the local level these politically motivated acts of censorship are used to exclude children from feeling like they belong this new generational books on The Chopping Block share stories about acceptance of gender identities the history of segregation slavery and violence against people of color in other words there's a move to silence our story of our country the role of
the school board is simple we are a governing body meant to hire and oversee the superintendent and manage the budget responsibly it is not nor should it be the role of a school board to dictate curriculum content or take the power to educate our students away from our teachers and library media Specialists while the board holds the responsibility to approve curriculum materials that does not mean that the board has the right to co-opt what those materials say our role is to approve the materia
ls in the budget and ensure they align with the policies we have in place and the graduation standards set set by the Department of Education school boards are governing bodies not management bodies and banning books is a management move aboard Banning books is inappropriate overreach and harmful to the students were sworn to support thank you Caitlyn Snider Mr chair and members of the committee my name is Caitlyn Snider I am a lobbyist with Education Minnesota in interest of time today and bein
g the last thing keeping you from leaving this room I'm going to focus on one section of the bill and that's the changes to special education lure in prior testimony Mr Schaefer shared a partial timeline of what has brought us here today um addressing our tier one and tier 2 teachers in special education in reality this timeline started in 2017 when the legislature passed a tiered lure system that does not require our special special education teachers to have training in special education befor
e they work with our kids with needs it started in 2018 when the mde started saying in statements in assurances of compliance to the federal government that we were meeting Federal oep uh requirements that teachers have training in special education in order to serve our kids that was four Commissioners ago I'm happy to be here today and to see this issue addressed by The Joint language from uh the Department of Education and pby um prior to the letter in March which Mr Schaefer referenced there
was also a letter to all 50 states last year in 20 or excuse me uh in Fall of 2022 um and at that time uh Education Minnesota and folks like myself reached out and said that this is an issue that needs to be addressed I was quoted in the Pioneer Press delivering remarks to pby saying holding your breath and hoping the parents of kids and IEPs are too uneducated to sue our state is not a strategy unfortunately that motion died um and so we are here today updating this language bringing forward a
n updated proposal um to make sure that our special education teachers are serving our kids with knowledge and have a knowledge about what an IEP is an IEP is a legal document between a school district and families it outlines the requirements that need to be provided to our students um we are seeing disproportionately that tier one teachers on in special education are the number one most disciplined class of teachers by pby and this is because they're being set up to fail they're not being give
n the training that they need to succeed so I'm happy to see these changes move forward at the legislature um if you would like to strengthen the language you could add uh a line that says that they not only are demonstrating progress towards professional lure but also are demonstrating the standards of effective practice we need these teachers in order to stay um in the classroom working with our students but we also need them to be prepared um for the legal and moral responsibilities of meetin
g our children's needs thank you um members questions comments Senator doc uh thank you Mr chair I appreciate it uh my question isn't for a testifier it's just for you um in relation to a letter from the inter pack it's msba amsd Minnesota Association of School administrators and a few other groups we had a couple of testifiers here talk about uh the specific provision article 6 section 2 and um it says that they're encouraged they've been talking with you and chair prior in the house about um l
anguage to to find a kind of find a consensus between our school boards and schools and administrators and what the governor's suggesting in the bill so just curious how those conversations are going do you think we're likely going to end up sticking with what's in the bill or is there room for improvement or conversation about what that language might ultimately end up looking like thank you Senator kunish do you have an answer to that by chance no okay if I may Mr I I I I'm not sure what they
what they're saying here yep that's okay and I know I'm putting you on the spot and and that's not the intent so if nothing comes top of mind that's fine um I would just say this when we first heard the bill uh my suggestion to the folks that were presenting it and to you and the governor's office was that uh we should probably have additional conversation with those organizations to figure out the language its impact how it would be uh interpreted or utilized as a pertains to school boards and
things of that nature so I just want to make sure that we don't find ourselves in a situation where we didn't have those conversations with stakeholders or get feedback from those organizations before we potentially pass the law while there's still time to have those conversations and potentially tweak or modify the language thank you we're working on the language anybody else Senator yeah thank you I appreciate that there's been some testimony um and this bill is much smaller scale than last ye
ar's Mr chair so it's yeah and there the points that came up were not surprising I I think the comments from Miss Prince are really valid and um I wish that there was I talked to my district about this we have a great process in place um and frankly with all respect um the governor is bragging on Twitter about how he's Banning book Banning and like it's like I'm Banning oxygen depletion in this room I mean it's like um I think the school board if they have some language that makes sense let's le
t's make this a constructive exercise um and if you it's just I'm not responding to the dog whistle which they think we're all going to respond to but I'm just responding to the idea that there are kids who can't read and do math and we're laying off teachers and this is the focus of the biggest contention of this hearing kids don't feel safe in schools um and the system all around us is looks like the apocalypse for Education after we spent $6 billion and um we all care about the outcome of our
children and how they learn and what their future is going to be for some of those students even in my district Mr chair that future is not very bright uh because they're not getting over the first thresholds and as you well know there's a thing I hope it's it's respectful to say that when kids read by third grade they have a much less chance of lining up in great Harm's Way in the future and uh as a system to the department to whoever is trying so hard we're not hitting that Target and instead
we have a a Target that's just a political thing and that's the big item in the bill and further uh this tier 2 thing uh we talk about teachers not wanting to come into our systems um we have to make it easier so teachers want to come uh in my district uh we raised their basic pay to $50,000 well none of them are going to be working because there aren't going to be openings for first year teachers this time and so all the efforts we make to draw people into the system are are pointless and um a
nyway just to the department make it work to Education Minnesota I'm a fan got to support teachers we want to give them good retirement it's got to work to Schoolboard members thank you for running and taking the Heat um but at the end it's not all of us here we are trying to do this and let's just make these kids succeed thank you Mr chair anybody else okay okay the note to um that was written on my agenda is um bills may be added please watch for agenda changes and or Duckworth Wednesday Wedne
sday so um our next meeting will be on Wednesday March 6th the agenda has already been posted thank you everybody for your feedback today we're adjourned [Music]
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