A bipartisan coalition of senators introduced on January 17 a series of reforms to strengthen Minnesota’s special education policies, put the focus back on students, keep teachers in the classroom, and save school districts money in the process. The proposals are expected to save special education teachers up to fifty-two hours of paperwork per student every year, or up to nineteen weeks for a class of fifteen students, by reducing burdensome administrative requirements.

“Every policy that has ever been implemented regarding special education has been well-intentioned, but we now have a complex bureaucratic process preventing teachers from actually spending time with their students,” said Senator Eric Pratt (R-Prior Lake). “These bills will make a real impact – students will get more personal interaction with their teachers, teachers will get to do more of what they love, and school districts will get some relief from costly administrative requirements.”

The bipartisan proposals will also help curtail rising costs that are eating into funding for other school programs, since special education is one of the fastest-growing areas of school districts’ budgets.

Senate District 49 will hold its annual convention on Saturday, February 23, at the Bethany Church in Bloomington.

The official convention call has gone out to all of the delegates and alternates who were elected by their precincts at our 2018 caucuses. The call was issued by email to all of the delegates and alternates for whom we have email addresses and who have not opted out of receiving our notices. If you were elected a delegate or alternate by your precinct to the SD49 convention and you have not receive a convention call, please contact Randy Sutter at 952-835-8917 as soon as possible.

The Convention Call  is also posted on our website, where you can purchase tickets to attend. Guest/Observer tickets are also available.

The primary business of our 2019 convention is to elect our senate district executive officers and our delegates and alternates to the 2019-2020 State Central meetings.

Members of the senate district who wish to run for a position on the Executive Committee need to contact Mike Lehmann at 612-839-0761. Mike and the Officer Nominating Committee are meeting now to interview candidates. Our bylaws do not allow Executive Committee nominations from the floor of the convention.

The Minnesota GOP conducts State Central meetings twice a year, in late spring and in early December. Delegates and seated alternates at State Central meetings elect state party officers, review (and vote on, as required) party business, and consider changes to the party constitution and bylaws. For 2019-2020, SD49 has been allotted 4 delegates and 12 alternates from our CD3 precincts and 1 delegate and 3 alternates from our CD5 precincts.

Members of the senate district who wish to run for delegate / alternate to State Central meetings are urged to contact Mike Lehmann at 612-839-0761. Mike and the Nominating Committee will start meeting to interview candidates in early February.

All four SD49 communities will be holding  school board elections this fall.  In our last newsletter article , we outlined the city council offices up for election or re-election this year and how you could register for them.  In this article, we will cover the local school board races.

If you are willing to step up and help lead your local school board, consider your options over the next few weeks.  To be successful, you will need to start soon to recruit a small but dedicated team, put a campaign plan and budget together, and consider raising some money. 

These races are generally nonpartisan, but we may be able to help you get started.  Contact us and we’ll talk.

Continue reading for more information on local school board races in Edina, Bloomington, Eden Prairie and Minnetonka, including how you can register to run.  Take note that school district boundaries aren't precisely aligned with city boundaries or Senate District boundaries, especially for Edina.

An animated and friendly group of Republicans filled our room at Poor Richards Commonhouse in Bloomington on Monday evening, January 14 for our first "Pints & Politics" of 2019. Between 45 to 50 attendees enjoyed lively "let's talk politics" conversations with friends both old and newly-met.

In addition to people from our two hosting Senate Districts (49 and 50), we were joined by some from South Minneapolis, Representative Greg Boe (47B) from Chaska (commuting and stopped in), and some from the suburbs south, west, and north of us. Don Johnson brought extra-special guests, his daughters, who appreciated the chance to meet current members and share memories of their late Mom, Donna, with folks from SD49 who had volunteered with her.

Mark your calendars to join (or rejoin) in the fun next month, February 11, 5 - 7:30, Poor Richards Commonhouse 8301 Normandale Blvd. Bloomington, MN 55437

Are you concerned about the direction that your city or your local school district is going? Do you have questions about how your property taxes are being spent, and are not getting answers? Or do you like the community you live in and want to help sustain its values?

Our communities will be holding city council (Bloomington, Minnetonka), mayor (Bloomington) and school board elections this fall. If you are willing to step up and help lead your local government, seriously consider your options over the next few weeks. To be successful, you will need to recruit a small but dedicated team, put a campaign plan and budget together, and consider raising some money.

These races are generally nonpartisan, but we may be able to help you get started. Contact us and we’ll talk.

In this article, we will cover the local City Council races. We will cover the School Board races in the January 28 newsletter.

image credit: signs.com

Our December 4 Newsletter carried an article  noting that the SD49 Convention this February will include the election of the SD49 Executive Officers. Ten of the 15 executive officers are Vice Chairs, five from House District 49A and five from House District 49B.

Senate District 49 has been one of the leading local Republican organization in Minnesota.  It takes committed leadership not only from the two SD49 Co-Chairs but also from each of the ten Vice Chairs to sustain that performance. Each takes on specific responsibilities to keep our dynamic organization functioning effectively.

In seeking candidates for Vice Chairs, we are looking for Republicans willing to lead one or more of the following efforts within our senate district:

• Outreach to new members
• Fundraising
• Program development
• Event organization (dinners, picnics, parades, etc.)
• Convention and Caucus planning
• Social media
• Precinct organization
• Candidate search
• Volunteer recruitment and coordination
• Database management
• Researching and writing articles for the newsletter and website

So, if you are interested in serving as an executive officer or have any questions about serving, please let us know. You need to be a Republican and live within the boundaries of Senate District 49. Contact Mike Lehmann at [email protected] or 612-839-0761. Mike will schedule you for an interview as part of our search process. Interviews are starting the end of January.

A month after the 2018 elections, four re-elected Minnesota Republican legislators broke from House Republican Caucus to form the New House Republican Caucus. Republican state Reps. Cal Bahr of East Bethel, Steve Drazkowski of Mazeppa, Tim Miller of Prinsburg and Jeremy Munson of Lake Crystal said they made the break for a number of reasons. As stated in an article in the December 11, 2018 edition of the Twin Cities Pioneer Press, the move was not based on a split over issues, but rather over the way caucus leaders interact with members.

Max Rymer, the host of the Republican Roundtable in Minnesota, interviewed two of the founders of the New House Republican Caucus earlier this month. The interview with Cal Bahr and Steve Drazkowski was recorded and is available on YouTube 

Earlier this month, the 2019 legislative session began and Republicans in the House and Senate rolled out their session priorities.

Senate leaders shared their plans to address our state's mental health crisis, reduce regulations harming our state's child care system, decrease the cost of health care while increase choices, simplify our confusing and out of compliance tax system, and eliminate the rampant fraud, waste, and abuse we are seeing on a nearly daily basis.

In the House, Republicans are ready to continue to fight for Minnesotans and their successful policies from the last four years that have led to lower unemployment, investments in our state's infrastructure and an incredible $1.5 billion surplus after years of Republican restraint and responsible spending.

For the first time, the Edina School Board created a Legislative Action Committee (LAC). Because most funding, educational mandates, and guidelines come from State government, the Edina School Board wanted to be able to give our elected officials their priorities for the next legislative session. A committee of 9, headed by board members Ellen Jones and Owen Michaelson helped identify their priorities.

On Monday January 7, the LAC presented their priorities to our elected officials, Senator Melisa Franzen, Representative Heather Edelson, and Representative Steve Elkins. Here are the major concerns:
1. Stabilize Education Funding
2. Increase State Funding for Mandated Special Education Programs
3. Reduce Mandates and Increase Local Control, in Order to Raise the Achievement Level of All Students
4. Ensure Safe and Modern School Facilities
5. Increase and Diversify the Teacher Workforce

These are all comparably important. Details about each priority are below. Here is one example of why these issues are important to our schools: Spending on Special Education is one area that is mandated by both the federal and state governments, but is only partially funded. In 2017 this shortfall in Minnesota was $617.0 million. It is called a cross-subsidy because $617.0 million had to be taken from the budgets of regular programs (teachers, classes, etc.) and spent on special education. The Board's message was that this isn’t right and the legislature needs to fund what it mandates.

Our legislators listened and said they would try to work on these priorities. However, in their 2019 session they will be faced with many issues that need funding and may compromise on competing needs. Citizens may contact these elected officials individually to support funding for school priorities.

On November 14, 2018 the Federal Transit Authority granted another “Letter of No Prejudice” to the Metropolitan Council, a necessary milestone which allows the early construction work for the SOUTHWEST LIGHT RAIL TRANSIT (SWLRT) project to proceed. It accomplishes this by making the (partial) early work eligible for federal reimbursement once the Full Funding Grant Agreement (FFGA) is approved, which is expected (but not guaranteed) in 2019. Under the FFGA, the federal government would pay $929 million of the project’s currently projected cost of $2.003 billion. Per the Met Council, the new projected in-service date is 2023.

Here is a little history of the project, going back 31 years:

• 1988 – The Hennepin County Regional Railroad Authority (HCRRA) identifies a “transitway” from Hopkins to Minneapolis as a future light rail corridor.
• 2003 - HCRRA’s Southwest Rail Transit Study identifies a dozen possible routes; four make the final cut for further detailed study.
• May 2010 – The Metropolitan Council votes approval of Hennepin County’s preferred route and control of the project is transferred to the (unelected) Met Council, with an expected in-service date of 2018 at a build-out cost of $1.6 billion.
• 2010-2014 – Many challenges by people, neighborhoods, and businesses directly affected by the proposed route delay the project.
• April 2015 – New cost estimates show an increased project build-out cost of $1.99 billion and an in-service date delayed to 2020.