All-day kindergarten for all proposed

01/17/2007

Minnesota's teachers union wants more preschool and kindergarten programs and lower college tuition.


By Norman Draper,
Star Tribune
Last update: January 16, 2007 – 10:22 PM


Calling Minnesota's early childhood education efforts "mediocre at best," Minnesota teachers union president Judy Schaubach urged legislators Tuesday to fund all-day, every-day kindergarten for anyone who wants it and allocate more money to preschool programs.


She also called for giving more money to Minnesota's public colleges and universities to control soaring tuition costs, and increasing basic K-12 funding so that schools can rein in rising class sizes and attract and keep the best teachers.

"Nearly half of those who enter the teaching profession leave within five years," she said.

According to Schaubach, class sizes in Minnesota schools are rising to "unmanageable" levels. She cited White Bear Lake's prediction of secondary-school class sizes of 40 or more students next year and Willmar's current class size averages of 30 to 40 students.

Schaubach, who put no cost estimate on the Education Minnesota proposals, said 29 states already fund all-day, every-day kindergarten. Citing a recent study, she said that fewer than half of the Minnesota students entering kindergarten are proficient in basic math and language skills.

Many legislators have also urged increased funding for preschool and kindergarten this year. But Gov. Tim Pawlenty, who will probably outline his education plans during his State of the State speech today, has said he wants legislators to pay more attention to improving high schools. At a speech to school board members last week, Pawlenty homed in on high school dropout rates and the problems of students who make up the "big clump in the middle," who neither fail nor excel, but "stumble to graduation."