Already a hot topic of the Minneapolis mayoral campaign, education took center stage at dueling events across the city Monday as candidates touted their prescriptions for improving student achievement.
Former Hennepin County Commissioner Mark Andrew and City Council Members Betsy Hodges and Don Samuels each held dueling press conferences to lay out their policy visions surrounding education — energy attorney Cam Winton, an independent, also addressed reporters. It's traditionally a tricky subject for the mayor, since the independent school board carries most of the reins to the city's schools.
But the candidates insisted that there was plenty that could be done — particularly around the periphery — to improve what is often touted as one of the country's worst gaps between white and minority students.
Only Samuels's plan won the support of former mayor Don Fraser, however. Fraser, who left office in 1993, was a vocal supporter of early childhood education during and after his tenure. He also launched several initiatives that remain active today.
"[The achievement gap] is a problem that will yield to a concerted community response, but that response needs to be lead not only by the school board and the school administration, but by the whole … administration of the city," Fraser said at a press conference for Samuels, whose plan he said was "the strongest statement that's been rendered in this campaign." He stopped short of endorsing Samuels's entire campaign.
Samuels said he would create a privately-funded education trust, based out of his office, to reward improving schools as well as focus on their under-performing peers. He said he would champion schools that are excelling, such as North Minneapolis' Harvest Preparatory School, elevate the teaching profession and spend more time directly engaging with parents.
"I live in the most troubled neighborhood in the city and I know these parents. I live by them," Samuels said on the steps of Harvest Preparatory. "I will directly engage them. So they can understand their role in helping their children achieve."
Down the street at the home of a Head Start facility named after Fraser, a mayoral candidate who based his campaign largely around education dropped out and endorsed Andrew. Jim Thomas, a special education teacher who generally opposes charter schools and Teach for America, said he and Andrew "share values in terms of how we can improve our schools in Minneapolis."
