Senate unanimously approves Sen. Nelson’s Education Policy Bill

The Minnesota state Senate Friday night unanimously approved an education policy bill that makes a number of significant improvements to the way Minnesota delivers education, including improvements for disciplining pre-kindergarten and pre-school children, support for students with dyslexia and mental illness, and strong early intervention in the battle against youth vaping and smoking addiction.

“Education is the moral and economic issue of our time. There is no other issue that has the same power to fundamentally transform an individual’s life, opportunities, and successes,” said Senate Education Committee Chair Carla Nelson (R-Rochester). “The reforms in this bill will not generate front-page headlines, but they absolutely will make a critical difference in the lives of students and their teachers. I am honored to lead the strong bipartisan work that produced these student-focused improvements in our education system.”

BILL HIGHLIGHTS

  • Establishes that pre-kindergarten and pre-school children may not be expelled or suspended unless all other disciplinary approaches have been exhausted and there is an ongoing threat to the safety of other children.
  • Improves support for students with dyslexia by streamlining and clarifying staff screening and identification responsibilities.
  • Improves support for students struggling with mental health issues by requiring all Tier 1 and Tier 2 teachers to meet mental illness training requirements. Tier 3 and Tier 4 teachers were already subject to this requirement.
  • Takes an early approach to battling youth addiction by requiring schools to include vaping prevention instruction at the middle school level. In addition, vaping instruction is encouraged at the upper-grade levels as well as “peer-to-peer” programs.
  • Establishes a framework for local school policies concerning the safe disposal of drugs or medications, particularly those that require a prescription.
  • Expands student eligibility for the Alternative Delivery of Specialized Instructional Services program, which is designed to maintain and improve a student’s achievement in place of formal and costly special education services.

The bill enjoys the support of the Minnesota School Boards Association, the Association of Metropolitan School Districts, The Minnesota Association of School Administrators, Schools for Equity in Education, the Minnesota Associations of Elementary and Secondary School Principals, the Minnesota Community Education Association, the Minnesota Rural Education Association, and Minnesota Administrators for Special Education, as well as the Department of Education, the Minnesota Child Care Provider Information Network, the Minnesota School Psychologists Association, Coalition for Children with Disabilities, the Minnesota School Bus Operator’s Association, School Nurse Organization of Minnesota, and the Solutions Not Suspensions Coalition.