State Sen. Larry Pogemiller, Dec. 13, 2007--Invest in education--In Minnesota the best thing the state could do for its economy is to increase its investment in education, Pogemiller said.   In response to a question, he said that charter schools are helpful but not a panacea.  Part of the solution, he said, must be more authority for the faculty at each school.  It was noted that in some school districts, including Minneapolis, vacancies in schools are filled by teacher seniority, which means that some senior teachers select the schools with fewer at-risk children.   Pogemiller replied that there'd be no problem if all schools in the state had enrollments with a proportionate share of at-risk children.

State Sen. Larry Pogemiller, Dec. 13, 2007--Use income tax to increase investment in education--The data is overwhelming that increasing investment in education would help the state's economy, and that such investment should be financed by an increase in the state income tax on higher income earners, he said. 

State Rep. Marty Seifert, October 25, 2007--Concern over funding of education—Seifert said he voted against the education funding bill for the first time last year. The bill provided a 2 percent increase in the first year and a 1 percent increase in the second year, with some additional money for special education. Some majority DFL legislators seem to consistently favor money for welfare over education, he claimed.

Continuing his comments on education, Seifert noted that in 1972, the year he was born, the school year was 6.3 days longer than it is today. Today the school bus companies and the coaches seem to have the most influence over the length of the school day, with some high schoolers finishing their school day by 2 p.m.

He spoke against federal mandates that are not adequately funded. The federal No Child Left Behind act is a “disaster”, he said.

Much more attention is needed to equalize funding among school districts across the state.

It’s vital, he said, for immigrants to be immersed in English, even though such ideas might not be deemed politically correct. We’re cheating people out of the American dream by not insisting the immigrants become fluent in reading and writing English.

former State Rep. Dan Dorman, Feb. 2, 2007--Change in the significance of the impact locally of a statewide decision--As a consequence of the shift, we now see that the impact locally takes on less significance.   To illustrate this point, Dorman referred back to when the State Legislature, at Governor Ventura's urging, replaced most school property tax levies with state aid.   But, Dorman said, the Legislature did nothing to halt the right of school districts to conduct excess levy referendums.    He recalled making a motion to discontinue the excess levies after six years, but he only received about 13 or 14 votes in support out of a total of 134 House members .   Thus, he said, it is clear that the Legislature never intended to provide 100 percent of school funding from the state, with no local funding.  But if you listened to the tone of many campaigns last year, Gov. Pawlenty and Republicans were to blame for the need for excess levies.