MREA August Advocacy in Action
MREA was present and active at a Professional Educator Licensing and Standards Board (PELSB) committee meeting on August 1, 2024, raising awareness of the difficulty in hiring properly licensed staff in positions such as school nurse and science educators. Two outcomes from that meeting demonstrate our work outside the legislative session intended to hopefully win during the session.
- Yelena Bailey, PELSB Executive Director, specifically said during a virtual meeting with the NW Arrowhead Regional Computing Consortium that PELSB has heard from MREA about needs for flexibility with school nurse licensure. They are planning additional follow-up on this topic.
- PELSB has set up a September meeting with both MASA and MREA to discuss science licensure. It is important to work collaboratively and to seek solutions that will help districts put great teachers in a position to work with students. We will also be connecting with the Science Teachers Association as we develop ideas that honor the teaching profession and work to keep classrooms staffed.
Facilities needs and inequities between metro and rural funding options for facilities is a challenge for many rural districts. MREA has organized a series of virtual roundtable discussions on making improvements to LTFM and other school facility revenue streams, among various policy initiatives aimed at school facilities. Reps. Bianca Virnig and Ben Bakeberg took up the mantel last session on our “roofs” initiative and they’re willing to consider this and other ideas as we approach the 2025 budget session in St. Paul and think about critical infrastructure needs in our school buildings. Again, working with other groups such as MSBA and MASA is a cooperative approach, but MREA is specifically advocating for rural districts. Other groups, along with MDE and private sector professionals have been included in these round table discussions. Ideally, by the end of the three planned meetings (August 13, 27 and September 10) we will have a set of ideas for a legislative package aimed at helping schools better maintain and improve their facilities.
These are just a few great examples of MREA advocacy in action and demonstrate why your membership is important. Feel free to reach out to with questions, ideas, or suggestions.
