Protecting the status quo is failing students

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It's August, and yet another school year is almost upon us. That means another year came and went without positive changes to our education system. And, let's be honest, it's another year our children cannot afford.

Wherever you are on the political spectrum, we all can agree Minnesota children aren't receiving the education they need and deserve.

Minnesota's worst-in-nation education gaps leave economically disadvantaged and BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, people of color) children behind, demonstrating that we have significant work to do to ensure that all Minnesota students are prepared for a successful future.

After the COVID-19 pandemic, significant learning loss, mental health impacts, tumbling testing scores and graduation rates have made it clear that we need an education system focused on providing all students with quality education.

This starting point in focusing on students is the Page amendment, named for former Minnesota Viking and Minnesota Supreme Court Justice Alan Page. The proposed amendment would change the Minnesota Constitution to elevate our education standards to "quality" in our state. "Adequate" education, the current standard, is not good enough to prepare our children for future success. Minnesota needs to take bold steps, and that starts with resetting the system from "adequate" to "quality" and making education a civil right.

However, this past legislative session, our elected officials convened for nearly four months and did not hold a single hearing on the Page amendment. Worse yet, they couldn't move the needle on any other education issues — early literacy, special education, early childhood education — pick your issue, and it failed to move through the process.

So what is the problem? Politics.

The status quo is so entrenched at the Minnesota Capitol that efforts to make positive change for the state's children are blocked time and again. Union bosses at Education Minnesota, the union that purports to represent Minnesota's educators, pressured legislators to not schedule hearings on the Page amendment, ensuring that the effort supported by a majority of Minnesotans could not move forward to the November ballot for a vote by the people. Polling has consistently shown that three-fourths of Minnesotans support quality education as a civil right, yet special interests blocked efforts to bring the conversation on the Page amendment forward to Minnesotans for a vote.

Instead, House Democrats proposed billions in new education spending, with no real plan to address learning loss or education disparities, and Senate Republicans had a bare-bones proposal to make small changes to literacy instruction. While elements of both House and Senate bills were positive, neither body had the courage to truly tackle the systemic changes that are necessary to ensure all Minnesota children receive quality education.

Mark our words: We will not solve our education problems with limited approaches. We need comprehensive, systemic change. We need to start with updating Minnesota's Constitution to provide children with a right to a quality education.

Without the constitutional amendment, we'll continue to have political gridlock over education issues. Too many legislators are unwilling to stand up to the state's teacher's union, which focuses more on politics than addressing the glaring education gaps in public education. The teacher's union holds campaign donations from their nearly $2 million political action committee and endorsements over the head of legislators who stray from the policy positions of the union.

Students and their families, particularly those who continue to face hurdles in the classroom, deserve brave legislators ready to fix glaring disparities in new ways and to take on special interests like Education Minnesota in the process.

Our educators have worked under immense pressure with remote and hybrid learning models for the last two years. Teachers have been on the front lines of witnessing the persistent education gaps that plague our state, and they continue to watch as legislators fail to enact change for fear of shaking up the status quo or going against union bosses. Teachers and parents alike are tired of seeing students left behind. It's time for change, and it's time for the political will to make those changes.

During this year's legislative session, our grassroots advocacy generated over 5,000 letters and calls to legislators in support of the Page amendment, and we have received the endorsement of 28 partnering organizations, including Teach For America Twin Cities and the Minnesota Vikings and the team's social justice committee. The Page amendment efforts are not going away anytime soon, because ensuring that all students have the right to a quality education is a moral imperative.

Here's our solution to the education failures in at the State Capitol: It's elections. They matter.

The election in November should be a referendum on our children's education. Talk to your candidates about where they stand on education reform and the Page amendment and use your vote.

Mike McFadden, Michael Ciresi, Louis King and Bernadeia Johnson are members of the board of Our Children MN. Johnson is a former superintendent of the Minneapolis Public Schools.