Senate Democrats recently passed two mandate heavy bills that put the future of Minnesota at risk. One pertains to education policy and fails to address the areas where schools say they need the most support. The second is the labor policy bill, which fails to bring employment opportunities to Minnesota and fails make our state a competitive place to grow a business. Both bills contain burdensome policies that will hurt Minnesota in the long run.

Democrats already passed one bad education bill last year that included over 60 new mandates on our schools, and it led to schools begging for help, and now they’re following it up with another bill full of mandates. Last year’s bill led to many school districts running their budgets straight into the red, because they simply couldn’t afford the mandates that were being forced on them. Several education groups across the state have requested the legislature hold off on passing additional mandates this year, but Democrats didn’t care enough to listen. Republicans tried to bring forward a bill that would allow schools a three year “onramp” period to adjust, but Democrats rejected our ideas and pushed another policy bill that creates even more mandates for our schools. Instead of adopting common sense solutions that help improve education by allowing our students to succeed in areas like math, science, and reading, Democrats are pushing social issues.

School districts have been telling us exactly what they need and Senate Democrats are completely ignoring their concerns with this year’s bill. Now we’re left with more Democrats policies that hurt our schools and put student success at risk. Graduation rates are declining and less than half of Minnesota students are performing at grade-level in math and reading… Instead of addressing those issues and putting students first, the Democrats’ bill focuses on things like a “Book Banning Prohibition,” allowing smudging in schools, increasing training requirements for special education teachers, and requiring schools to consult with union representation for paraprofessional training. These are terrible priorities.

The labor policy bill is another beast. It modifies Minnesota’s minimum wage by allowing the Department of Labor and Industry to adjust the minimum wage up to 5% annually based on inflation. It also eliminates the distinction between large and small employers when it comes to minimum wage. These policies are going to kill small businesses in Minnesota, and the costs of these policies will likely just be passed down to employees and consumers.

We need to focus on making our state a desirable place to live, work, and do business in. That means investing in our schools and small businesses, but doing so in ways that make sense. These bills completely fail to do that – they just pile even more mandates onto schools and businesses, and Democrats don’t care if that forces them to fail. Priorities are clearly skewed, and we have to get things back on track before it’s too late.