Education Minnesota, the statewide teachers union, said Friday it will air ads online and on television beginning Saturday urging legislators to allocate more funding so that school districts can properly evaluate teachers.

The union, which represents 70,000 educators in the state, said that if properly funded, the requirements under a 2011 teacher development and evaluation law would lead to improved teaching quality.

Airing for the next month, the ad features teachers at the Plainview-Elgin-Millville Community Schools, a district which was recently awarded a $90,000 grant from the National Education Association, a national teachers union.

Union officials have said that without adequate long-term funding, evaluation programs implemented in local school districts will be less effective in the long run.

"This is the first time Minnesota has had serious discussions about how to improve the quality of every teacher, every year," said Education Minnesota President Denise Specht in a statement. "We need to do this right."

The ad follows a recent recommendation by various stakeholders in education that urged the merging of two separate evaluation programs. The advertisement can be viewed here.