NEWS RELEASE
State Representative Al Juhnke
rep.al.juhnke@house.mn
281 State Office Building, St. Paul, MN 55155
651/296-6206
3951 Horizon Hills Circle, Willmar, MN 56201
320/235-4442
March 18, 2004
JUHNKE: SCIENCE, SOCIAL STUDIES MANDATES WOULD HURT SCHOOLS, KIDS
Social-studies and science mandates contained in a bill passed by the House of Representatives Thursday will further erode local control of schools while driving up their costs without doing anything to improve the education of Minnesota's young people, Rep. Al Juhnke said after voting against the measure.
"If these are meant to replace the old Profile of Learning standards, then we've gone from bad to worse," Juhnke, of Willmar, said. "They impose unfunded costs on local school boards and unwieldly and confusing requirements on teachers. This new set of mandates will not produce what we want - young people who are able to think for themselves."
The mandates also continue the destruction of local control in favor of centralized, top-down dictation of curriculum, Juhnke said.
"With a state bureaucracy telling schools where and how to spend their money, and what and when to teach, what is left of local control?" Juhnke asked.
The sweeping curriculum changes will force school districts to purchase new and additional textbooks, buy new curriculum materials and retrain teachers - at a cost of tens of millions of dollars statewide. "That's a whole new burden being put on local schools that are
already fiscally strapped," Juhnke said.
Despite partisan criticism, Minnesota's schools consistently produce graduates who perform not only well above the averages, but at the highest standards. Schools have suffered the most damage from inadequate and unstable funding that has led to exploding class sizes and loss of quality programs.
"Our children only get one chance for an education, and only one chance to succeed," Juhnke said. "Put a good teacher with good books in a good, uncrowded classroom, and the successful results will make us all proud of our kids, our schools and our state."
