In addition to union business at the Representative Convention, delegates elected a new officer team. Education Minnesota Vice President Monica Byron was elected after running unopposed for president. Marty Fridgen of United Teachers of South Washington County was elected vice president and Ryan Fiereck of Education Minnesota-St. Francis was elected secretary-treasurer.

The new officer slate will take office on July 1 and will serve three-year terms.

Find the full article here

Enhance your personal and professional skills at Education Minnesota’s Summer Leadership Conference.

This year’s event will be held Aug. 5-6 at the River’s Edge Convention Center in St. Cloud.

Summer Leadership Conference is different from our Summer Seminar of years past, with an emphasis on relationship building and shared experiences in a cohort structure. Come as an individual – or as a team – to develop or enhance your union leadership skills.

Registration opening in early May!

Minnesota Department of Education Commissioner Willie Jett sent a letter responding to the U.S. Department of Education’s request last week for all state and local education leaders to certify compliance with Title VI, a federal law that prohibits racial discrimination in schools and universities that receive federal funds. In summary, MDE has rejected the DOE’s request to sign the letter and has challenged the DOE’s authority to require it as a condition of receiving federal funds.

After noting that “MDE has been faithfully implementing federal education programs in accordance with federal law

New resources on federal funding
There are two new resources to track the impact of federal funding issues and learn about the impact of cuts.

• This week, Gov. Tim Walz announced a new dashboardMinnesotans can use to track disruptions and cancellations of federal funding and their impact on services available to Minnesotans.
• Also this week, NEA launched a resource tool that shows how much funding public schools in your congressional district get from the federal government and how the programs help students.

We will continue to keep you updated on the rapidly changing movements at the federal level

The nominee is ready to dismantle the Department of Education and steer federal funds away from public schools to pay for private school vouchers and tax cuts for the rich.

Read the full article here.