February 19, 1999 - State legislators have filled four seats on the University of Minnesota Board of Regents. Meeting in joint session Thursday, members of the House and Senate selected two incumbents and two newcomers to the governing body of the U of M. Despite a three-month search, lawmakers from both parties are criticising a process that produced few women or minority candidates.
February 19, 1999 - The Minneapolis NAACP has released a detailed proposal for settling its education adequacy lawsuit against the state. The NAACP plan would effectively eliminate school enrollment boundaries in the metropolitan area...and pressure Minneapolis schools to quickly raise test scores. State and school district officials are reserving comment on the plan.
February 11, 1999 - University of Minnesota officials say they need state help to head off a funding crisis in medical education and to improve physician training. They say cuts in federal support and smaller profits from patient care are threatening the future of the Academic Health Center. The U asked for 37-million dollars to overhaul its curriculum and an annual 60-million dollar boost from a state endowment to fund medical education and research. Governor Ventura provided the money in his budget. But his plan hinges on putting the state's tobacco settlement money in the bank, a plan many legislators oppose.
February 10, 1999 - On a bi-partisan vote, the House Education Policy Committee has approved legislation to repeal the controversial Profile of Learning. The bill scraps a ten-year-old, multi-million dollar plan for ensuring Minnesota high school graduates can apply the knowledge they've gained in the classroom. It also creates a new back-to-basics approach that lets local districts decide how to teach students.
January 27, 1999 - Graduate students are trying to form a union at the University of Minnesota. Organizers say they've collected signatures from more than half of the eligible students, setting the stage for a unionization vote this spring. Supporters say a union would mean better pay and working conditions for teaching assistants and research assistants. But many graduate students oppose a union.
January 26, 1999 - Critics on both sides of the Profile of Learning Debate are blasting a bill to scale back the new high school graduation rule. Legislators heard public testimony today on what will likely be the most devisive education issue of the session. Some accuse lawmakers of trying to retreat on a sound education reform. Others say the whole system should be dumped.
January 20, 1999 - State lawmakers have started the debate over a proposed overhaul of Minnesota's high school graduation standards. The House Education Committee is considering a bill to scale back the controversial Profile of Learning, which is being introduced in the schools this year. Some legislators say the bill would hurt the state's education reform efforts. Others say they'd rather slash the entire Profile system.
January 18, 1999 - Governor Ventura and singer and actress Melba Moore were among the featured speakers today at the Martin Luther King holiday events in Saint Paul. The celebration began this morning with a rally at Central High School. Participants then marched down Marshall Avenue to a gathering at Concordia University.
January 15, 1999 - Governor Ventura has outlined an education agenda that could add hundreds of millions of dollars to K-12 education. The Governor is also taking a new approach to his plan for lowering class sizes in the early grades.
January 14, 1999 - State legislators have begun discussing ways to lower class sizes in Minnesota schools. Governor Ventura says class-size reduction is among his top priorities. He's convinced it can help students learn. But some researchers question the impact of class sizes on learning, and the Governor's goal could be more than the state can afford.