Al Franken's Blog, page 76
February 17, 2012
Pine Journal: Six Chippewa bands to split $28 million federal payout
The federal government appears ready to make amends for a dark period in Indian relations 123 years ago that took timber and land from six northern Minnesota Chippewa reservations.
Legislation is advancing in Washington that would release a $20 million settlement to the Fond du Lac, Bois Forte, Grand Portage, Leech Lake, Mille Lacs and White Earth bands of Chippewa. The money originally was awarded in 1999 but has been tied up ever since.
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© Al Franken - U.S. Senator, Minnesota, 2012. |
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West Central Tribune: Minn. Sen. Al Franken issues video to explain effect of mortgage fraud settlement
Sen. Al Franken has issued a video to explain how the recent mortgage fraud settlement will affect Minnesotans.
The settlement is between 49 of the states and five of the largest mortgage banks in the country.
"When I first wrote to the Secretary of the Treasury and the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development about some banks' deceptive mortgage practices that had come to light, none of us knew just how widespread or devastating they were," Franken said in a news release Wednesday. "Today, millions of Americans are underwater on their mortgages, and many have lost their homes because of these practices. This settlement is one small step towards restoring some justice for those affected, and a more stable, fair housing market."
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February 16, 2012
International Falls Journal: Minnesota, local schools receive federal waiver from No Child Left Behind law
Superintendents of school districts in Borderland say they are optimistic about school improvement following announcement of the approval of Minnesota's request to be exempt from the federal No Child Left Behind law.
The announcement in Washington came late last week from Pres. Barack Obama and U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan. The NCLB law, which caused controversy across the nations as a flawed way to label schools and districts as "passing" or "failing," has also been waived in nine other states in this first round of waivers.
Details from the Minnesota Department of Education on what will replace the NCLB system in evaluating student, school and district progress will be announced today through a web-based seminar across the state.
According to MDE, the waiver has freed all state public schools from meeting controversial Adequate Yearly Progress marks, which many felt unfairly labeled schools and placed federal consequences on districts "not meeting AYP."
Superintendent Jerry Struss of the South Koochiching-Rainy River School District, home to the Indus and Northome schools, called the step "positive from the public school standpoint."
"It will be good to have a growth model for testing, as opposed to a cohort model that was setting an arbitrary point of where students need to be at the end of the year, without taking into consideration where some students are when they start the school year," Struss said. "Some students show remarkable growth, but with NCLB if one subgroup did not show progress, the entire school gets penalized for that. We're looking forward to a more fair assessment and a better way to evaluate students that will be better for everyone."
In 2011, Littlefork-Big Falls School District was the only area public school district categorized federally as "making AYP" according to student scores on the Minnesota Comprehensive Assessments, the MCA-II and MCA-III standardized tests in reading and math.
South Koochiching-Rainy River School District did not make AYP for the first time ever, and the International Falls School District did not meet AYP for the second year in a row, putting the district under the federal status of "needs improvement."
Under the NCLB law, each consecutive year a district does not make AYP, the law mandates corrective action.
"The difficult thing with No Child Left Behind is we were attempting to create a system where we want everyone to be above average. For example, they wanted all fourth graders to be at this point by the end of the school year, and if they're not, the district will be categorized as not meeting AYP," Struss explained. "Under NCLB, they wanted 100 percent of students in the country to be proficient in reading and math by 2014, regardless of whether they are in special education or have a disability, or other factors. In life, it's impossible to expect everyone to meet that; it's like expecting everyone to be above average. It's impossible. Eventually, by 2014, all schools in the country would be categorized as not making AYP, because the cards are simply stacked against them."
Last year, nearly half of all Minnesota schools did not meet AYP standards. Under the federal law, the school and district scoring system was figured by taking subgroups of students (according to race/ethnicity, economic status, English proficiency status and special education status) along with a test subject (reading or math) to tell whether each subgroup met the standards (an example of a subgroup could be the group of special education students on the math test). If one subgroup failed to meet the standards, the entire school would be classified as "not making AYP."
According to makers of the law, this helps identify achievement gaps and requires schools and districts to make sure students from all backgrounds are sufficiently educated.
Fred Seybert, superintendent of L-BF schools, said school districts such as L-BF who have made AYP in successive years will "not really be affected by the waiver."
"The state as a whole will have a better opportunity to transition to an accountability system made for students in Minnesota; schools will be given the opportunity to improve, rather than be labeled as not making AYP, indicating the need for corrective action," Seybert said. "Schools in the state will meet principles such as college-and-career-ready academic standards, and, importantly, focus on a state-developed system of differentiated recognition, accountability and support."
Seybert is hopeful that the Minnesota Department of Education "will be able to identify the highest-performing schools across the state in order to learn from them."
Falls High School Principal Tim Everson told The Journal that as part of the district improvement plan, he wanted the state's help in finding similar schools and learn what they have tried. He added he hopes this is part of MDE's plan to replace NCLB — linking schools to open communication about what works and what doesn't
"It's important for schools to share best practices, rather than constantly reinventing the wheel," Everson said. "When we learn from each other, we are more successful. In education, it's important to identify weaknesses, and I do agree that we all need to be accountable. If there are achievement gaps, we need to address them and get all our students to achieve. But obviously what would work in Chanhassen or even Hibbing or Virginia, might not work here. There may be pieces that work, though. It would be nice to have the state's help in linking us to other schools that sit in the same boat as we do — similar size and demographics — even if we're across the state."
International Falls Superintendent Jeff Peura said he's optimistic to see the education evaluation systems come back to local and state control.
"In Minnesota, we've always done a great job in educating students — I don't think the federal government needed to get involved," Peura said. "Bringing it back to local control provides an evaluation system better fitting for our students. We're different than urban and suburban school districts — we know locally, the best things for our students. For the federal government to be involved did a disservice to students."
Congressional support
Although local superintendents are still learning whether the MDE will still use MCA tests for evaluation, U.S. Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Al Franken say this is what the state needs.
"This waiver will give Minnesota the flexibility it needs to implement its own plan for raising student achievement that focuses on our state's specific needs," said Klobuchar, who worked closely with the MDE and the U.S. Department of Education to secure the waiver.
Franken also responded to the announcement, calling it "progress."
"No Child Left Behind simply isn't working, and it's clear we need to completely reform the legislation," Franken said. "Until reform legislation is approved by Congress, this waiver will eliminate some of the most arbitrary measures of the current law that have burdened schools throughout Minnesota. Far too many schools all over our state have been unfairly sanctioned under the current one-size-fits-all model."
About the waiver, Gov. Mark Dayton said, "Today's announcement is important to our students, parents and teachers. Under 'No Child Left Behind,' teachers have been forced to teach to tests, which do not accurately measure either individual student or school progress. Students spend too many hours preparing for, practicing and taking the tests."
© Al Franken - U.S. Senator, Minnesota, 2012. |
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Bemidji Pioneer: Pioneer Editorial: Push for U.S. steel is easy to embrace
When it comes to supporting Northeastern Minnesota mining, and assuring its future, some of our elected leaders are doing what many may have come to believe was the impossible — or, at least, the very difficult. They're agreeing and standing together, despite their party-affiliated political chasms.
Specifically, a Republican and two Democrats sent from Minnesota to Washington, D.C., as well as DFLers sent from the Iron Range to St. Paul, all are finding themselves working toward a common goal in the opening weeks of 2012. They're all taking steps to make sure that American-made steel is the steel that gets used in federal and state transportation, public-works, bonding and other projects that receive public funding, as well as in the production of metal-armor plates for our military.
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© Al Franken - U.S. Senator, Minnesota, 2012. |
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Northland's News Center: New Rule Could Improve Rural Phone Service
Sick of having your phone call dropped because of poor phone service? Well that may soon become a thing of the past.
A new ruling by the Federal Communications Comissions (FCC) will help improve phone service to rural areas. This ruling comes after dozens of lawmakers wrote the FCC to fix phone service problems in rural communities.
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February 10, 2012
Star Tribune: Franken sponsors bill on courthouse security
Sen. Al Franken is introducing legislation to make courthouses more secure.
Franken, D-Minn., says the Local Courthouse Safety Act would provide courts with access to security training and give states authority to use existing grant money to improve security.
The legislation comes in the wake of a shooting in northern Minnesota's Cook County courthouse. That shooting left two people injured with multiple gunshot wounds.
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Post tags: eliminating red tape, rural communities, safety, security
Northland's News Center: Lawmakers Act To Stop Elder Abuse
Stories of elder abuse have been creeping their way into the headlines, but lawmakers are starting to push back.
Senator Al Franken has introduced the "Elder Protection and Abuse Prevention Act," a bill that would create a network of elder abuse screening and support programs to help stop abuse before it happens.
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Post tags: seniors
February 7, 2012
Roll Call: Senate Democrats Rally to Save Seats
Nearly everyone in Washington is familiar with EMILY's List. But what about Al's list?
Through his large email list of political supporters, Sen. Al Franken has quietly but steadily become one of the most sought-after and prodigious fundraisers among Democratic Senators outside of leadership. The Minnesotan — along with a handful of his rank-and-file colleagues — has been active this cycle in raising money for the almost two dozen Democrats and Democratic-held seats that are being contested on the November ballot.
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February 2, 2012
Star Tribune: Now showing online: Your movie history
You might not mind if all your Facebook friends knew you watched movies like "The Godfather." But would you want everyone to know you watched "Yoga for Health: Depression and Gastrointestinal Disorders"?
Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., used those examples Tuesday to illustrate a growing debate over how much control people should have over their movie viewing histories. The question is whether companies such as Netflix and Facebook should have to ask every time they share someone's movie data, or whether one-time blanket permission is good enough.
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January 30, 2012
KARE: Sen. Franken tours U of M wind plant
Minnesota Senator Al Franken toured a U of M wind plant Friday, one of three in the country to receive a federal grant.
The Eolos Wind Energy Research Station in Rosemount supports wind turbine and wind farm designs. The plant won a $7.9 million grant in 2009 as part of the Department of Energy's commitment to clean energy.
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