The guiding principle for the Minnesota House Education Finance Committee this year was simple: Kids first, no exceptions, no excuses. And if we’re going to put kids first, we have to recognize that every student should be treated fairly by our funding system no matter where they live. For too many years, education leaders have not supported this basic fact of education. Those years are over.

This year, the Minnesota House passed an education funding bill that puts new money into the basic per-student formula, meaning it benefits every student equally. This is a sea change from recent years when money went into formulas specially designed to benefit some districts more than others. Unfortunately for rural Minnesota, those districts were confined to the cities. But with a new crop of education leaders, rural Minnesota finally has the voices it needs for fair, equitable education funding.

One of those strong voices belongs to state Rep. Rich Murray. Rich may be in his first term here in the House, but he has already earned the reputation of being a thoughtful, caring legislator who understands the challenges facing our public schools. On many occasions, Rep. Murray has told me about their achievements and successes in the Albert Lea school district; most notably, he says Albert Lea is home to some of the most dedicated teachers he has ever met. Rich knows too that we can no longer settle for the status quo; improving our schools and supporting our teachers are concepts we must all embrace.

Pat Garofalo

state representative

District 36B

chairman

House Education Finance Committee

Farmington