Minnesota -- like a lot of places -- could use an educational overhaul. Look no further than the decaying school buildings in Duluth or the below-50-percent graduation rates that plague some areas of the state.
Gov. Tim Pawlenty envisions such a revamp and plans to fly around the state today with Education Commissioner Alice Seagren to plug what he calls overdue "education reform initiatives." He is scheduled to touch down at 10:30 a.m. in Duluth.
"A public debate is coming" over the quality of Minnesota education, the governor said in a meeting this month with the News Tribune editorial board.
"Debate" may be a polite word for the firestorm that could erupt. Watch for it to come from the state teachers union and at the Minnesota Legislature.
Speaking more bluntly than Minnesota Nice typically allows, Pawlenty said that not all teachers are as good as they need to be. He plans to propose legislation with minimum requirements to enter teaching. If lawmakers balk, Pawlenty said, he'll push forward anyway through state licensing rules.
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Teacher education at the University of Minnesota isn't sufficiently rigorous, the governor continued. Standards are weak, outdated and in need of improvement.
He wished out loud that more professionals would consider sharing what they know in the classroom. He said the image of the "career teacher" prevents too many people from seeing the vocation as a way of giving back to their community and country, even if for just a few years.
Too many college students, including those who rank near or at the tops of their classes, dismiss teaching because the pay is low, Pawlenty said. He suggested tuition breaks or other incentives to change their minds. Once they become teachers, they could be kept in the classroom with better pay -- based on their performance, the governor said.
Too many good teachers -- 57 percent, Pawlenty said -- leave the profession because of poor pay and a lack of support from their colleagues. The state could improve mentoring with uniform requirements for staff development, the governor suggested, adding that the quality of staff development varies now from district to district.
To assure quality teaching, Pawlenty supports evaluating teachers every five years. It's not right, he said, that teachers should be all but assured a job for life after three years.
"Re-tenuring," he said, "keeps the pressure up. It keeps accountability up."
No matter what Pawlenty, Seagren or anyone else does, some students will struggle. Pawlenty said some could be sent to an educational boot camp, an intense military-like training that would cram two years of math and reading into six to eight weeks.
"It's a last-ditch effort to intervene to save them," the governor said.
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The quality of education in Minnesota is far from last-ditch. In fact, it's pretty high. And there's nothing wrong with talking about how to keep it that way, especially in a fast-changing world.
A public debate is coming, the governor said. Let it begin.
