New Minn. group pushing for stronger teacher voice in education policy-making

Original article in KSTP.com by Stephen Tellier.

In St. Paul, teachers came to the brink of a strike vote. In dozens of other Minnesota districts, unions and districts are still negotiating teacher contracts behind closed doors.

But a new group of teachers is taking a different approach, claiming they want a stronger voice in the policy-making process.

“This is really exciting for us,” said Madaline Edison, executive director of Educators 4 Excellence Minnesota.

What happened on Thursday night is new — conversation, the venue, and the people participating.

“I found this was sort of a shared passion of teachers really wanting to have an impact on policies that were impacting their work with their students,” Edison said.

The Minnesota chapter of Educators 4 Excellence, or E4E, is the fourth for the national nonprofit. It already boasts about 550 Twin Cities teachers. Each one wants to bring their classrooms closer to the policy-making process.

To read the complete article, visit KSTP.com.