MINNEAPOLIS — Governor Tim Walz and members of his education team greeted children as they arrived Tuesday at Zanewood Elementary in Brooklyn Park, a community school in the Osseo district.
"Standing right there is Minnesota’s future. It is beautiful. It’s diverse. It’s energetic. It’s hopeful. It’s inclusive," Walz told reporters, who has pressed for major investments in public schools throughout his first term
It's an opening day tradition for Walz, and comes at a time when he's locked in a heated debate on the campaign trail with Dr. Scott Jensen, his Republican challenger. Jensen maintains Minnesota public schools need a massive overhaul, including the option for parents to tap into taxpayer dollars to help pay private school tuition.
Walz ran for office in 2018 as an education candidate, which made sense considering he spent his career teaching geography at Mankato West High School.
In both the 2019 and 2021 budget battles at the State Capitol, Walz was able to win sizable increases in state aid to local school districts, both in per pupil funding and specialized dollars for pre-K and special education programming.
"Every child, regardless of zip code, race, economic background, no matter what gets the opportunity to be in the best schools in the country," Walz told reporters after signing the 2019 education finance bill, which increased direct, unrestricted aid to local schools by more than $500 million over a two-year period.
In 2021, he convinced lawmakers to add another $1.2 billion for public education. He sought even more this year, including more mental health supports in schools, but the Republican-controlled Senate wouldn't agree to another big school aid package in what was a non-budget year.
"We know in Minnesota we consistently rank near the top. We know these last two years have been hard. Kids need to be in schools," Walz told KARE at the State Fair.
The 2022 session ended with most of the major spending bills in limbo, despite a projected $9 billion budget surplus. Walz hasn't been able to convince Republican leaders to finish the work in a special session.
Jensen, a former state senator, urged Republican lawmakers to reject Walz's spending priorities for the surplus.
The GOP candidate has blamed Walz for a marked decrease in math, reading and science proficiency test scores compared to what they were before the classroom learning disruptions during the pandemic.
"We're trying to help our kids and we're failing as a system in Minnesota!" Jensen told reporters at a State Fair press conference.
The Minnesota Department of Education released data in August showing that 44.8% of children statewide were proficient in math compared to 55% in 2019. In reading, it was 51.1% compared to 59.2% in 2019. The science scores also showed a significant drop, 41.3% compared to 50.7% in 2019.
The Republican candidate's 10-point education plan calls for allowing parents to tap into taxpayer funds to help pay tuition for private schools. He also envisions turning low-performing public schools into charter schools or private schools run by their own school boards.
Jensen insists spending more money on public education would be a waste of taxpayer dollars, because the new investments made by the Walz Administration haven't had the effect so far of raising school performance. He said Walz's decision to order schools to remote-learning mode was especially hard on children of color from lower income families.
"We need to be bold. Right now, we've got broken institutions. Right now we've got Education Minnesota absolutely throwing the teachers under the bus," Jensen told KARE.
"The teachers don't feel supported by that union. The teachers are coming to our campaign saying we're with you."
He says public schools should focus on their core mission and stay away from lessons about sexual orientation and the racial reckoning in the nation.
"Foundational education, not indoctrination. We don't need to hypersexualize the kids. No critical race theory," Jensen said.
The governor asserts there's no way to divert tax dollar to private schools without harming the mission of public schools in the process. He also notes that Jensen has called for phasing out Minnesota's personal income tax, which currently accounts for 40% of state government's total revenue.
"How we fund schools should not be predicated on property taxes and bond referendums, because we’re picking winners and losers based on the wealth of the community rather than on the value of the children," he said.
When asked by reporters Tuesday what grade he gives himself when it comes to education, Gov. Walz went with the grade of incomplete.
"I would say it's an incomplete at this time. There's more work to be done. We knew this was a generational type of change, but I remain more optimistic than ever."