Over the last few years, Minnesota school systems have failed students, shunned parents, and turned one of the best school systems in the country into a poorly-functioning bureaucratic nightmare, with notes of ideological indoctrination. It’s time for a change, to return the power to the parents, make schools safer, and provide real quality education. A new plan introduced this week aims to do just that.
Earlier this week, Republican gubernatorial candidate Scott Jensen revealed a ten-step plan to save Minnesota schools. In a speech at the Minnesota State Fair, Jensen claimed that schools across the state are failing their students and vowed to “stop thinking that dollars are always going to get us where we have to go.” With recent MCA (Minnesota Comprehensive Assessment) results hitting a catastrophic low, immediate reform is clearly necessary.
Governor Walz’s open-wallet approach to fixing this issue has done more harm than good. Walz has funded bad policies that promote CRT and transgender ideology for minors while ignoring plummeting math and reading scores. Worst of all, though, Minnesota schools remained closed much longer than necessary during the pandemic, giving the lie to Walz’s ridiculous claim that “80% of our kids missed less than 10 days of in-class learning.” Because of Walz’s actions and the relentless support of the teacher’s union, Minnesota schools have failed their students in three primary ways.
1. Politics has found its way into the classroom and is waging its war on students. Many teachers now affirm that white students are inherently racist (or at least, they “reinforce structures of white supremacy”) and should be treated differently because of their race. They also gaslight students into believing that a man can become a woman and vice versa. These radical views simply do not have a place in the classroom. Schools should be places of learning, not one-sided indoctrination.
2. Schools have been failing their students academically. According to a Minnesota Department of Education report, reading test scores are down 7%, science has fallen 8%, and math has plummeted 11% since 2019. These cataclysmic numbers represent students who are being harmed by a school system that cares more about a dystopian vision of racial justice than math, reading, and science. In grades 3-8 and 10, Minneapolis public schools reported that only 6.37% of students met or exceeded standards in reading comprehension. Sadly and ironically, it’s minority students who have been hurt the most academically by these changes, as widening test score gaps attest.
3. Finally, Minnesota schools have failed their students culturally. Many kids are being forced to receive a politically-charged education from institutions that have become actively hostile to the values of most Minnesota families. Sadly, many parents lack the financial flexibility to remove their children from these indoctrination centers. That’s why Jensen’s plan is so promising, although it doesn’t go far enough: by bringing school choice back into the conversation, the new plan would give the biggest advantage to kids in failing inner-city public schools.
Jensen’s plan places a big emphasis on parental involvement, which he says is “fundamental to accountability and engagement for student success.” His plan proposes a “Minnesota Parents Bill of Rights” that would expand transparency and allow parents to know what their children are being taught. Parents deserves this right, and no teacher or institution should ever try to take it from them.
Parental involvement isn’t just about transparency, however. Jensen wants to increase academic achievement by giving parents more choice over which schools their children will attend. With open enrollment (which allows parents to enroll their students outside of their district) and school vouchers, parents will be able to cater to the individual needs of their children. Schooling isn’t a one-size-fits-all proposition; it requires the guidance of those who know their children best. School choice, which is a proven method for raising academic achievement, will create safer schools, better grades, and give promise and hope to the next generation of Minnesotans.
Jensen’s plan also included measures to protect children from “divisive materials” in the classroom (similar to a measure seen recently in the Becker school district). These materials include racist and racially divisive materials such as works that fall under the broad heading of Critical Race Theory.
Jensen’s plan has been met with angry responses from establishment figures. Nichole Johnson, Gov. Tim Walz’s campaign manager released a statement saying that “Scott Jensen's radical plan to convert public schools into private schools and put politicians in charge of students’ learning takes his 'defund public education' ideology to a new extreme.” Unfortunately, Ms. Johnson confused politicians with parents. Any sensible reform to education must put parents at the center, as indeed Jensen’s plan does, instead of bureaucrats at Education Minnesota and PELSB.
Education reform needs to happen now. The quality and security of children’s hangs in the balance. As test scores plummet and attendance falls by the year, Democrats try to respond by pouring more cash and more ideology into a broken system. It’s fiscally irresponsible and destructive to parents and children.
Our school system needs more than just a quick-fix. It needs a complete and wholehearted uprooting, re-seeding, and nurturing. This new sapling will grow to be a great tree, headed up by the parents, for the students, and supported by the teachers. Schools for kids, not bureaucrats or politicians. This is the standard to which we should hold all plans for reform, whether from Scott Jensen, Tim Walz, or anyone else. Our children deserve nothing less.
