Kelliher targets Entenza on education
Democrat Margaret Anderson Kelliher is taking aim at fellow Democrat Matt Entenza over his education policy. In a news release, Kelliher pointed out that Entenza's plan to scrap the federal No Child Left Behind law would cost the state $440 million in federal funding.
"My opponents have proposed unrealistic education plans that either dramatically cut school funding or throw it down the rabbit hole of a broken school funding formula," said Kelliher. "Neither plan addresses the challenges facing our schools."
Kelliher wants to increase school funding, pay for all - day kindergarten and simplify state public school funding."
Kelliher's shot at Entenza is interesting because she's been focusing most of her fire at Mark Dayton in debates. This may be a signal that the Kelliher campaign is getting concerned about Entenza or that they're trying to get in her name in the news during Entenza's K - 12 tour.
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Entenza's campaign issued a statement calling Kelliher's claim "desperate" and a sign that Entenza's campaign has momentum.
Entenza has repeatedly called for Minnesota to get out of the federal No Child Left Behind standards. He's argued that Minnesota won't lose out on federal funds because he's talked to education officials within the Obama Administration and is confident the state will get a waiver. He refused to name the officials he's talked with.
Kelliher said in December that the federal government needs to fix No Child Left Behind and that she wants more rigorous testing to ensure students are learning. When asked if she's in favor of scrapping the plan, Kelliher said at the time that "we need to talk about it" if the feds don't fix it.
Dayton told MPR that he would do everything he can to convince the federal government to produce a waiver. (Listen to all of the statements here.)
Kelliher also criticized Dayton today for relying on an outdated school funding formula. Dayton said at a Tuesday debate that he wants to change the funding formula and criticized Kelliher for not putting more money behind it. Dayton also pointed out today that he's the only DFL candidate willing to pay back the full K-12 school funding shift within two years.