Sen. Carla Nelson Fights For Funding, Local Control of Our Schools
Sen. Carla Nelson attended a community outreach meeting sponsored by the Minnesota Department of Education last night. “It is a well known fact that education funding in the state of Minnesota is long on complexity and short on local control,” said Nelson. The purpose of the meeting was to help the Education Finance Working Group meet its charge to make recommendations for a school funding model that will:
- Focus on supporting students and results (Keeping both schools and students accountable)
- Allows decisions to be made closest to delivery of service (Making schools accountable first to teachers, parents, and students)
- Meets our commitments (Making sure that they are adequate and equitable vis-a-vis the state)
- Provides greater flexibly in how funds are used (Preserving local control)
- Is more transparent, rational and comprehensible (Not getting bogged down in complex details, but keeping things simple)
- Is structurally sound, yet nimble enough to meet emerging needs (That is economically and socially relevant and sustainable)
“I think we all agree on the outcome,” Sen. Nelson said after last night’s meeting, which was covered on KTTC-TV. “We all want it to have a great education for our kids. We want to have local control. We want to make sure there’s transparency and accountability. And, of course, the challenge is ‘how do we make all that happen?'”
Sen. Nelson was recently named a “Superhero of Education” by the Minnesota School Boards of Education, for her tireless work in fighting for educational excellence and local control of our schools here in Southeastern Minnesota.
