Minnesota State Wire

Proposed changes to Minnesota’s Constitution boost schools’ focus on equality and achievement on tests while removing language about a publicly-funded school system.

The constitutional amendment swaps a passage on education for a newer one, adopting words like “equal” in place of "uniform." It also adds that children should be tested for skills that let them navigate “the economy, our democracy, and society,” according to the Duluth News Tribune.

Minnesota’s achievement gap inspired the proposal by former Minnesota Supreme Court Justice Alan Page and President of the Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank Neel Kashkari, according to the Duluth News Tribune.

The change shifts the focus to education outcomes and closing the achievement gap, Page told the Tribune. For Kashkari, the passage reflects experiences both in his life as the child of immigrants from India and in his current federal reserve banking role, which is focused on stabilizing state’s employment market.

Some do not view the change as focused on equality. Denise Specht, president of Education Minnesota, and some of her peers viewed the amendment as a backdoor to replace the public school system with a private one, which she said wouldn’t be fully funded.

The proposed change to education would allow for students to be given vouchers paid for by taxpayers to attend a private and potentially religious school system, Specht said.

Specht has taken to social media to broadcast her view. 

“Removing the state’s requirement of paying for a uniform public education has been a goal of pro-voucher groups for years and the agenda of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). MN has rejected ALEC because it favors polluters, union-busters and corporate welfare,” Specht wrote in a Jan. 8 Twitter post.

Minnesota currently has gaps in graduation levels and achievement between black and white students, the second-largest in the country behind Wisconsin, the Duluth News Tribune reported.