Each Monday now through the election, we’ll pose a question on an issue that’s pertinent to the race for Minnesota governor. Today’s Question: Should the state’s investment in public colleges and universities be greater or smaller?
Democratic candidate Mark Dayton:
Something is seriously wrong, when Minnesotans cannot afford to send their own children to their state’s colleges and universities. We must increase our investments to keep higher education affordable for middle-income families.
Republican candidate Tom Emmer:
In the next few years, we need to make 50 years’ progress in education reform – we need a 21st century education model for a 21st century economy.
The challenge we face today isn’t about accounting or dollars spent – it’s a challenge to fundamentally change how we teach our kids to succeed in the modern world.
We have laid out an ambitious, detailed education reform agenda which focuses on three main pillars: improve teacher and school accountability, address teacher effectiveness, and facilitate innovation within our current system.
Independence Party candidate Tom Horner:
Spending more or less on higher education isn’t our first question. Next year Minnesota will have a new president of the university system, a new chancellor of MnSCU and a new governor. That’s our opportunity to examine our systems and put everything on the table. What do we need from our great two-year and four-year schools? How do we keep building a world-class research university? When we answer those questions we can decide the funding question.