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Rally calls for end to Profile of Learning
by Tim Pugmire, Minnesota Public Radio
January 8, 2003

Gov. Tim Pawlenty reads to first-graders at Johnson Elementary in St. Paul Wednesday morning. The book is The Paper Dragon. Pawlenty appeared at the school while opponents of the Profile of Learning rallied at the state Capitol. (MPR Photo/Tim Pugmire)

Legislators who oppose the state's high school graduation standards say they expect to soon do away with the system known as the Profile of Learning. Gov. Pawlenty supports a repeal of the Profile, and the votes appear to be sufficient in the House and Senate. A bigger battle could come this year as lawmakers try to find a replacement set of standards to comply with federal law.

St. Paul, Minn. — Members of the Maple River Education Coalition gathered in the state Capitol rotunda to kick off their "Repeal the Profile of Learning Lobby Day." The grassroots organization has been trying to derail the statewide graduation standards for five years. The Minnesota House has voted four times to repeal the profile, but shrinking margins of support in the Senate have helped keep it alive.

Rep. Marty Seifert, R-Marshall, is a former teacher who has led the fight to scrap the Profile. He told the crowd he thinks the success of many anti-Profile legislative candidates in last fall's election has all but assured its demise.

"I was afraid when I was a teacher, and I had that Profile repeal bill as a freshman, that we would end up in a situation where the Profile of Learning would end up dying of old age," Seifert says. "But with this new group and with the new governor down the hall, who is also against the Profile, it will not die of old age. It will die because these people, myself and the people in this room have finally come together to kill it."

	Profile opponent Renee Doyle

The Profile of Learning has been required in Minnesota public schools since 1998. The complex set of rules puts the emphasis on student projects and performances rather than book work. Opponents have long argued that approach cheats students out of a rigorous education, and burdens teachers with excess paperwork.

Republican House Speaker Steve Sviggum says a repeal bill is a top priority, and he predicts it will definitely pass this session.

"We do not need to dumb down our education process and have that bureaucratic, top-down paperwork nightmare, with the performance packages that come along with it -- that busy-work type of stuff. We don't need to strangle-hold our children in education, strangle-hold our teachers with that anymore," Sviggum says. Gov. Pawlenty took time out from his inaugural week activities to read the book The Paper Dragon to a group of first grade students at Johnson Elementary School in St. Paul.

The Republican governor says K-12 education is one of his priorities, and he hopes to spare classroom funding from his plan for fixing the $4.5 billion budget deficit. Pawlenty is also sticking by his campaign pledge to scrap the Profile of Learning.

	Children attended the Capitol rally

"The standards that we have are not high enough quality. They're not focused, they're not rigorous -- they're just low quality," Pawlenty says. "They have been reviewed by numerous nationwide, respected non-partisan groups and given very poor marks. And I'm not going to stand by as the governor of the state of Minnesota and say D-quality or F-quality standards and curriculum are good enough for Minnesota's children. They're not."

Despite the Profile's political uncertainty, schools in St. Paul and several others districts remain committed to standards-based education. Rae Cornelius, a teacher at Johnson Elementary, says she would prefer to see lawmakers improve the current Profile of Learning system rather than repeal it. She told the governor that standards are important.

"I think it's a wonderful opportunity for the children, in that the children and the teachers know what's expected of the students. It's explained beforehand and the students know their expectations," Cornelius says.

If legislators repeal the Profile, state officials will have to find a replacement set of standards. The federal "No Child Left Behind" law requires all states to have academic standards in place, along with a matching system to annually test third through eighth graders. Failure to comply would put about $200 million in federal Title I funding at risk.

	State Rep. Tony Kielkucki is chief author of the Profile repeal bill

Sen. Steve Kelley, DFL-Hopkins, who chairs the Senate Education Policy Committee, says he's still not convinced a repeal is the only answer. He says the state might be better off retaining parts of the current system.

"My approach is to see whether we can come up with a new consensus about what we need to do to comply with federal law, and what Minnesotans want in terms of standards, that will lead to higher student achievement," Kelley says.

House Republicans say the Senate's approach will put them and the governor in the driver's seat for developing new state standards. Rep. Seifert says once the repeal is completed, the real battle will begin.

"What we're going to see, hopefully, is some strong leadership from the governor's office on a common-sense set of standards that maximizes local control, minimizes state and federal interference, and is something our educators can agree to, along with the Legislature. That's going to be a tricky, tricky road to hoe," says Seifert.

Seifert is a co-sponsor of a bill scheduled for introduction in the House this week that would repeal the current graduation rule. It also directs the state's education commissioner to set up a task force to develop new standards in five core subject areas -- math, language arts, science, history and geography. The Legislature would then have to vote on the task force plan.

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