State Representative David Bly, MN District 25B

Last Friday, I attended an education summit sponsored by the Alliance for Student Achievement, which includes Education Minnesota, The Association of Metropolitan School District (AMSD), Minnesota School Boards Association (MSBA), Minnesota Association of Secondary School Principals (MASSP), Schools for Equity in Education (SEE), Minnesota Association of School Business Officials. I was fortunate to hear Art Rolnick

of the Federal Reserve talk about the pay back from investing in early childhood education. He explained that the traditional way of economic development is a zero sum game, for example Governor Pawlenty’s JOBZ programs. It’s zero sum because governments at various levels engage in various forms of subsidies to get business to do what they were going to do any way and then local governments can’t reclaim any benefit from the companies they’ve helped because they’ve put so much into subsidizing the company. But unlike typical “economic development,” education has both a financial and social payback because costs later in life are saved because early interventions prevent the need for a variety of social programs.

Later in the day, John Gunyou

talked about how we got into this financial mess, a combination of bad choices that did not protect the public interests of Minnesotans and which allowed a few to prosper while the most vulnerable bore the burden of the deficit. He made it clear that the deficit, in spite of 9/11, was avoidable if we had only made different choices, and kept the surplus. The events of September 11, 2001, did not cause the economic crisis, our leaders poor decisions did. The rebates and tax cuts were decisions made based on an economic outlook that could not be sustained. A clear sighted view would have told us that the boom of the nineties was not going to last. But instead of saving for the rainy day, we spent down our reserves, gave it away in “Jesse checks,” cut tax rates on the wealthiest, and mislead the citizens that we would be all right. Now, it’s anything but all right as we cut school budgets, increase class size, and cut health and human services that are essential to children and the elderly.

Minnesota can do better. We have built a strong economy that has given Minnesota an business climate that outperforms its neighbors and exceeds expectations. It has provided for infrastructure and support to growing engines of the economy.

Hubert Humphrey said that, “A society should be judged by how it provides for those in the shadows of life.” The elderly neighbor down the street who has to choose between groceries and prescription drugs. The troubled teen, who believes she can’t stay at home. The health aide at the nursing home who can’t find a place to live that she can afford. Working people that do the hard jobs few want to do and are paid little for doing them and then are blamed for their lack of prospering. In addition to building a strong economy we can afford to take care of those in the shadows of life.