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Legislative News and Views - Rep. Sondra Erickson (R)

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Legislative Update from Rep. Sondra Erickson

Friday, March 10, 2017
Dear Friends and Neighbors,
 
My week in St. Paul was akin to preparing for finals in college because the Innovation Education Policy omnibus bill had a deadline of today to be ready for the next step of voting. So, I worked hard to finish and to receive all YES votes on it in committee. I described the Education Policy bill as "doing no harm" to our students, teachers and school leaders, and our parents. You may not know but the Legislature has enacted so many changes to K-12 education in the past few years that schools were getting dizzy just trying to keep up. So, I decide this was the year to "let them breathe."
 
On top of meeting deadline with policy legislation, I had a bill that would reform educator licensing heard in Education Finance. This measure reforms the governance of a board that licenses teachers and also creates a new structure to license teachers. It was a proposal that my team and I worked on for months following a very critical audit of the present Board of Teaching as well the licensing division of the Department of Education.
 
My hope is that more students pursue the education to become teachers, especially among our various ethnic groups. With the demographic of our population changing, we need teachers from many different ethnicities helping our children learn.
 
The week was also filled with visitors who are pictured below.
 

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Ryan and Robin Schipper, and Faith and Haydn from Milaca stopped by
 

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Farm Bureau members from Sherburne and Morrison Counties, Bryan and John.
 

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Members of the Kanabec and Sherburne County Farm Bureaus, and Ogilvie FFA members Randy, Seth, Taylor and Veronica with their advisor, Jessica Bester
 
I enjoyed speaking to students from Ogilvie’s FFA chapter about agriculture policies and what their plans are for their futures. I so enjoy seeing students from our district in Saint Paul, and this was no exception. We have some wonderful future leaders for our area.
 

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Families from District 15 visited on Thursday during the Day on the Hill for Catholics. Among them were the Archibald and King families. John and Kris live near Milaca and Mr. King and his children near Princeton.
 
Thank you to everyone who took the time to visit. It is the highlight of my week to visit with groups from our community, and I take our conversations into account when voting on legislation. Please don’t hesitate to call my office to schedule an appointment and ask any questions you may have.
 
Sincerely,
 
 
Sondra