Education, Mental Health & Early Childhood Care : Capitol Update

Editor's note: The following is freshman Sen. Melissa Halvorson-Wiklund's newsletter update from the capitol for the week ending Feb. 22, 2013. Halvorson-Wiklund serves on the following Senate committees: Health, Human Services and Housing; and Education: E-12 Finance, State & Local Government.

Education always a hot topic in St. Paul

Building on my experience serving on the Bloomington School Board, I’m lucky enough to serve on both the Education and E-12 Education Finance committees. As a result, I spend a great deal of my time working on education and being a voice for Bloomington and Richfield schools.

With recent high-profile incidents of school violence, mental health in schools has been a frequent topic of discussion. Senators Alice Johnson (DFL-Spring Lake Park) and Patricia Torres Ray (DFL-Minneapolis) have both proposed bills to address mental health.

Sen. Johnson’s bill would allow school districts to use Safe Schools levy funds to cover mental health professionals, and Sen. Torres Ray’s bill would require a mental health curriculum in public and charter schools. We need to make sure that kids who go to school have the resources they need to be happy, healthy learners, and I’m excited to work on these issues.

Another interesting proposal that’s being put forward by Senator Kevin Dahle (DFL-Northfield), the only public school teacher in the Senate, is to reform testing in Minnesota. Easily the most common issue teachers bring up when I speak with them is testing and how we can assess students accurately without demanding too much classroom instruction time and putting too much pressure on the students themselves. I’m hopeful that we can explore this and other possibilities that will serve the best needs of Minnesota schoolchildren.

This week, we also heard S.F.783, a bill that establishes a model policy for school districts to address bullying. I’m thrilled that the legislature is addressing this issue, and working to ensure that kids feel safe to learn in our schools.

Bill to establish Dept. of Early Care and Education

One of the more ambitious efforts that I’m undertaking is a bill that would establish a new state Department of Early Care and Education. This bill would consolidate programs and services currently performed by the Departments of Education, Health, and Human Services. As my bill states, consolidating programs and services would help us to work towards ensuring that every child through age 5 receives a fair and full opportunity to reach their full potential. One of the best investments we can make is quality, universal early childhood programs. These programs have demonstrated their effectiveness, and I am very excited to be leading this effort.

Around the District

• The Richfield High School Girls Basketball Team will face Chaska on March 7th for the Section 6AAA championship. A win would advance them to the State Championship
• The 18th Annual Taste of Chocolate will be taking place on Sunday March 10th, from noon to 4 p.m., and will be at the Bloomington Center for the Arts (1800 W Old Shakopee Rd, Bloomington)
• Recently, I met with constituents from Epilepsy Awareness, AFSCME Council 5, MN Dental Association, ARRM, and the MN Coalition for the Homeless Jefferson High School in Bloomington was recognized as a top performer in food safety by the City of Bloomington Environmental Health Division
• Alyssa Erding, a senior at Kennedy High School in Bloomington, was recently named a KARE 11 Academic All Star
• Bloomington Mayor Gene Winstead will deliver his State of the City address on Wednesday March 20th Minnesota
• History: On March 6th, 1852, Hennepin County is formed, named for Father Louis Hennepin, who saw and named the Falls of St. Anthony in 1680

February Forecast brings Budget into focus

The state non-partisan finance agency, Minnesota Management and Budget, released its February Economic Forecast on February 28th, which showed a reduction in the state’s projected budget deficit from $1.1 billion to $627 million for the 2014-15 budget. That the deficit is lower than expected is good news, but there are still many difficult budget decisions to be made in the coming weeks.

As the legislative session continues, I will primarily be working on reviewing the items that may be included in the Education Finance Omnibus bill. After the Governor's revised recommendations come out, the Senate will be creating targets for the different committees and then the committees will have to work on how to meet the target.

I look forward to gathering input from constituents, and working together with the Governor and legislators from both sides of the aisle to do the hard work of permanently solving our budget problems and investing in Minnesota’s future.

Looking Ahead ...

In the coming weeks, I’ll be touring more Rich-field schools, and meeting with the Commissioner of Education, Dr. Brenda Cassellius. I’ll also be meeting with constituents with the MN Brain Injury Alliance, and the Carpenters Union. I’ll be spending a lot of time in committees to ensure that bills meet the first Committee Dead-line, and I’ll be continuing discussions with constituents about how I can best serve Bloomington and Richfield. I’m excited to continue working for you, and I hope you’ll stop by the Capitol and say “Hi!”. Otherwise, I’ll see you around town!