Goodbye, St. Michael – Albertville Knights! We loved you. We built football fields, track fields, a swimming pool and had star athletes come from our little home towns.
Goodbye, St. Michael-Albertville honor students. We taught you with the best teachers we could afford. We gave you great libraries, laboratories, and special educational opportunities that other district’s students would envy.
Goodbye, St. Michael-Albertville special education and pre-school kids. We gave you extra transportation, hours and diligent care from educators who cared about your needs and success.
Why are we saying farewell to our public school educators, administrators, and everyone who assists at our local schools?
Because we will soon be under voucher systems similar to Louisiana, Pennsylvania and coming soon to Wisconsin. Public sector education is going away. Republicans have made it a priority to abolish the Department of Education. And, the governors in the states of Louisiana and Pennsylvania want to turn over the education of our elementary and high school students to the private sector through the voucher system.
Louisiana recently made their state a “voucher state”. From Sean Cavauagh in Education Week: “Over the objections of teachers’ unions and many Democrats, Louisiana’s Republican governor and GOP-controlled legislature have crafted one of the most exhaustive education overhauls of any state in the country, through measures that will dramatically expand families’ access to public money to cover the costs of both private school tuition and individual courses offered by a menu of providers.
A pair of bills championed by Gov. Bobby Jindal , which he is expected to sign into law, will expand a state-run private-school-voucher program beyond New Orleans to other academically struggling schools around the state, give superintendents and principals direct control over personnel decisions, and set much higher standards for awarding teachers tenure.”
Read this article from the Anti-Defamation League about how private schools can and will discriminate against certain sectors of the population and how they can still be funded.
In Minnesota, we have always had a mandate to ensure that our students get the best public education that they can receive through our property taxes.
St. Michael and Albertville recently passed an historic increase in property tax increases to ensure that our students get the best education that we can give them.
I appeal to the voters in Minnesota, please don't let this happen here. The voters in Louisiana never had the opportunity to vote for this. It was never placed on the ballot. It was decided by the governor and legislature. And, it is happening in Pennsylvania, and it appears that it will be a mandate in Wisconsin, too.
It will not be in your hands unless you understand that who you vote for will decide your children's fate at the hands of those who will decide for you and them.
Get educated. Understand what the positions are of the people you are voting for as far as public education. This is the year for standing up for our kids and our public schools.
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