Bill Maher, John Kline, Mike Obermueller and student debt

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As interesting as it is that Bill Maher picked one of our congressmen, Rep. John Kline, CD2, for his #FlipADistrict contest, the reasoning is interesting. He explained it on his Sept. 12 Real Time with Bill Maher. The bit I refer to starts around 2:40, where Maher said the issue of student debt inspired most of the votes for Kline, and then he tore into Kline’s record: Continue Reading

Daniel Lattier: It’s time to decentralize our schools

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When I discuss the problems in Minnesota’s education system with others, I frequently reference one telling statistic more than any other.No, it’s not proficiency scores; and it’s not graduation rates.It’s the fact that, over the past 70 years, the number of school districts in Minnesota has decreased by 96 percent! In 1947, there were 7,607 school districts in Minnesota. Today, there are just 328.This is a Community Voices submission and is moderated but not edited. The opinions expressed by Community Voices contributors are their own and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the TC Daily Planet.The 96 percent decrease in Minnesota school districts roughly mirrors the trend toward educational centralization that happened across America over the last century.Presumably, a desire for efficiency drove this dramatic effort to centralize Minnesota’s and America’s education systems. Districts were increasingly consolidated (and they’re still being consolidated today) under the guise that we could better assure the education of our youth.But here’s the thing: centralization is not synonymous with efficiency. Sometimes centralization results in greater efficiency; other times, it acts as an obstacle to efficiency.And today, our increasingly centralized education system is more often than not a beacon of inefficiency. Continue Reading

Hiawatha Academies acquiesce to parent pressure; new school to open next fall

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When Cynthia Smith was told Hiawatha Academies wouldn’t be opening their high school until 2019, she felt deceived. With her daughter entering eighth grade, Smith needed to know her child had somewhere to go next year — something she said Hiawatha had promised to provide when her daughter first enrolled there.But ramped up parental pressure has led Hiawatha Academies, a network of public charter schools, to work quickly toward opening a new high school in time for the inaugural class that just started eighth grade to attend. Hiawatha Academies announced last month that their new high school, Hiawatha Collegiate High School (HCHS), will open next fall. It will be the fourth charter school in the network. Officials have yet to pick a location for the school.“When I found they wouldn’t have high school, I was upset,” Smith said. Continue Reading