MDE updates on education reform and bonding authority

MDE updates on education reform and bonding authority
4/12/2010 10:10 AM

MINNESOTA DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION: NEWS AND INFORMATION
From: Alice Seagren, Commissioner
Date: April 9, 2010

PRESS RELEASES

Governor Pawlenty Calls on Legislature to Pass Key Education Reforms

To read the April 8 press release, click on the following link.
www.governor.state.mn.us/mediacenter/pressreleases

$81.57 Million in Bonding Authority Approved for Local School Districts

To read the April 1 press release, click on the following link.
www.education.state.mn.us/MDE/About_MDE

ACTION ITEMS
Extraordinary Opportunity for Your School Leaders! -- Minnesota Principals Academy
The Minnesota Principals Academy is an executive development program that helps principals and charter school directors create and sustain schools in which all students meet state standards and successfully prepare for college and careers. More than 160 Minnesota school leaders have already completed the program and in a recent independent evaluation, eighty-one percent rated the quality of the Principals Academy, as compared to other leadership development programs, as excellent and 17% rated it good. All of the participants said the Academy has significantly changed their professional practice. The Academy uses the research-based curriculum developed by the National Institute for School Leadership, which a major recent study in Pennsylvania concluded contributed to significant increases in student achievement on assessments in that state. For more information on the Principals Academy, please visit www.mnprincipals.umn.edu.

Minnesota now has the opportunity to take the Academy training to scale across our state through participation in a national consortium spearheaded by the National Center on Education and the Economy, a non-profit organization headquartered in Washington, DC. The national consortium is seeking funding through the U.S. Department of Education's Investing in Innovation Fund (i3) for the expansion and rigorous evaluation of the National Institute for School Leadership executive development program. Districts and charter schools that participate in the program will have the full cost of their principals' participation covered by the grant.

In Minnesota, the organization spearheading this opportunity is the University of Minnesota's College Readiness Consortium, which operates the Minnesota Principals Academy in partnership with the Minnesota Department of Education, the Minnesota Association of Secondary School Principals, the Minnesota Elementary School Principals Association, the Minnesota Association of School Administrators and the Minnesota Business Partnership.

Because the deadline for i3 funding is May 11, 2010, College Readiness Consortium staff are immediately working to identify districts and charter schools that are interested in participating in the project. To indicate your interest or for more information, please contact Julie Sweitzer, the Director of Leadership Initiatives at the College Readiness Consortium, at your earliest convenience and no later than Friday, April 23. She can be reached at sweit001@umn.edu or 612-625-5324.

Districts and charter schools that express their interest in participating earlier will be more likely to be allocated a share of the significant but still limited number of places the national consortium has allocated to Minnesota for its participation in the project.

Thank you for considering participation in this powerful learning opportunity for your leaders and this promising strategy for raising achievement in your schools.

Request for Proposals for a Qualified Grantee(s) to Provide Minnesota Health Care Program Outreach and Enrollment Assistance Services to Uninsured Children in a Minnesota School or School District
The 2009 legislature directed the commissioners of the Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS) and the Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) to develop and implement a streamlined and efficient application and enrollment process for medical assistance and MinnesotaCare enrollees coordinated with the public education system by August 1, 2010.

In response, DHS has issued a Request for Proposals targeted to public schools, school districts or community organizations collaborating with a school or school district to provide Minnesota Health Care Programs (MCHP) outreach and enrollment assistance to uninsured children in a Minnesota school or school district. Respondents who are familiar with the MHCP and the application process, working in areas of the state with a high population or percentage of uninsured children, will be given a priority. DHS will provide technical assistance, including formal MHCP training and ongoing support. It is expected that two grants will be awarded up to $65,000 each.

This project seeks to better understand how MHCP can better coordinate with the public education system in order to streamline its application and enrollment process.

We encourage you to respond to this opportunity to further address the needs of the uninsured in your communities. The RFP is located at:
www.dhs.state.mn.us

For assistance with questions regarding this RFP, contact David Van Sant, Minnesota Department of Human Services, at david.vansant@state.mn.us.

Mission: The Minnesota Elementary School Principals' Association is dedicated to promoting and improving education for children and youth, strengthening the role as educational leader for elementary and middle level principals, and collaborating with partners in education to assist in achieving these goals.

Leading schools toward excellence through the MESPA vision to be the premiere resource for preparing today's principals for tomorrow and a strong leading voice for public education.

Minnesota Elementary School Principals' Association

1667 North Snelling Avenue, St. Paul, MN 55108

651.999.7310 MN toll free 800.642.6807

Fax: 651.999.7311 E-mail: mespa@mespa.net