Gov candidates try to school each other on school issues
From MPR's Tom Weber:
The three major party candidates debated education-related issues during a debate Thursday evening at the studios of Twin Cities Public Television in downtown St. Paul.
There wasn't much new ground covered over what Democrat Mark Dayton, Republican Tom Emmer and the Independence Party's Tom Horner had previously said about education (this wasn't their first 'education only' debate, after all), but they renewed their pledges to all increase funding for early childhood education.
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On matters of the state budget, Emmer and Horner would not start paying back a $1.4 billion payment delay to schools until after the upcoming biennium; Dayton says he still wants to include the payback in his first budget, even though his newest budget proposal (released this week) still has a deficit.
The forum, sponsored by the Minneapolis Foundation, was moderated by MPR Morning Edition and TPT's Almanac host Cathy Wurzer. It was broadcast and webcast live and set before a studio audience that amounted to a 'who's who' of education leaders in the Twin Cities - including Minneapolis Schools superintendent Bernadeia Johnson; Minneapolis school board member Tom Madden; former Federal Reserve VP Art Rolnick, DFL state representative Carlos Mariani; and Curt Johnson, a former chief of staff to Gov. Arne Carlson and current partner at Education Evolving.
You can listen to the full debate here: