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on October 30, 2017
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What Counts as a “Crisis” at the Teachers’ Pension Funds?

Written by Kim Crockett
in Education, Unions

TRA admits to a $30.7 billion liability but only has $21.2 billion to cover those promised pensions. TRA says based on the 2017 valuation, it only has $0.69 on the dollar to pay pensions to teachers. If there are no changes, it will only have 50% of funds in 2046. TRA used 2017 numbers because the markets were up—a lot. If it uses the 2016 valuation, the fund is expected to have only 37% of the needed funds in 2046. Why isn’t this a crisis? ...

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on October 26, 2017
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Edina Schools’ Equity Trainer Says Whites Must Change “From the Cells Out”

Written by Catrin Wigfall
in Education

The Center recently wrote about white privilege training Edina school bus drivers and custodians were forced to attend in 2012. The “training” program, led by Dr. Heather Hackman, focused on diversity, cultural competency, oppression, racism, and whiteness. The Center's post prompted a reader to confirm the district’s obsessive focus on racial equity is pushed on other Edina Public Schools (EPS) employees, as well: Heather Hackman operates Hackman Consulting Group—a consulting agency in Minneapolis—and consults nationally on “issues of deep diversity, equity and social justice and has focused most of her recent training work on issues of racism and white privilege, gender oppression,...

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on October 26, 2017
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Are Edina Public Schools Giving Taxpayer Money to the ACLU? [UPDATED]

Written by Katherine Kersten
in Education

Everyone in Edina has seen the “All Are Welcome Here” lawn signs that began popping up after the 2016 election. The signs were a response to—and a public repudiation of—Donald Trump’s victory. “All Are Welcome Here” signs, custom printed in Hornet green and white, are posted around Edina High School and at other Edina public schools. How did they get there? Who paid for them? Where are the profits from their purchase going? This Instagram post answers the first question. The signs were delivered by All Are Welcome Here, LLC, a start-up formed by several Twin Cities artists in the wake of...

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on October 20, 2017
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White Privilege Training for Edina’s Custodians and Bus Drivers? Can It Get Any Crazier?

Written by Pari Cariaga
in Culture, Education

Of the countless examples of left-wing bullying that we have received from Edina school parents, students, teachers and staff, none will make your skin crawl quite like this one. A widow sent this to us yesterday. It is a training program that her late husband, a bus driver for the Edina public schools, was forced to attend in 2012 which left him utterly humiliated. At this "Equity and Racial Justice Training" day, bus drivers and custodians were instructed in diversity, cultural competency, oppression, racism, and whiteness. Bus drivers and custodians. Equity and Racial Justice Training.  What?! Edina schools have reached a whole new level...

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on October 19, 2017
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Edina Lefties Try to Push Back, But Fail Miserably

Written by John Hinderaker
in Education

For a week or more, leftists in Edina have been yammering on Facebook about how they were going to collect a huge number of Thinking Minnesota magazines that were mailed to residents of Edina, and deliver them to our office. Today, they finally tried to do so. Two women showed up at our office with a big box that contained a few copies of Thinking Minnesota. I introduced myself and invited them to come in, saying that I wanted to interview them. They refused to go beyond the entrance to our office, and one of them wouldn't even tell me...

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on October 15, 2017
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Center’s Exposé Dominates Debate Over Edina Schools

Written by John Hinderaker
in Education

Kathy Kersten's bombshell cover story in the Fall issue of Thinking Minnesota on political indoctrination in the Edina public schools continues to reverberate. Today's spotlights the article's impact: "Charge of 'political indoctrination' heats up Edina school board race." An article alleging political “indoctrination” in the Edina School District has become one of the central topics of this year’s crowded school board race. The article was published in Thinking Minnesota, a magazine produced by the Center of the American Experiment, a conservative think tank, and sent to all households in Edina. Its author, Katherine Kersten, an Edina resident and senior fellow at the...

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on October 12, 2017
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Kathy Kersten Needs Defending in the Same Way a Fish Needs a Bike Path

Written by Mitch Pearlstein
in Education

About 25 years ago, not for the first time and not nearly for the last time, Kathy Kersten wrote something that made a lot of people on the left mad, really mad.  A quarter century later, she has done it again, making many of the ideological descendants of the people who were steamed at her back then steamed again.  I don’t recall what the big controversy was in the early 1990s, but the current one deals with her exposing education-corrupting, lefty activism in Edina schools.  For examples, see her Thinking Minnesota cover story or her Star Tribune op-ed summary of...

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on October 11, 2017
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Great two-year programs that often out-earn four-year college grads

Written by Katherine Kersten
in Education

It’s common wisdom in our society today that you must have a four-year college degree to get ahead in life. But a new Center of the American Experiment study concludes that Minnesotans who choose a two-year degree, apprenticeship or occupational certificate often do better financially than their peers with a four-year degree. The study—No Four-Year Degree Required: A Look at a Selection of In-Demand Careers in Minnesota—concludes that median lifetime earnings for machinists, radiologic technicians, plumbers, electric line installers and similar jobs exceed those of their counterparts with a four-year degree by up to 61 percent. The study addresses the “skills gap”...

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on October 10, 2017
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Kersten responds to Star Tribune Counterpoints re: Edina School District’s racial identity policies

Written by Katherine Kersten
in Education

On Saturday, October 7, the Star Tribune ran my op-ed piece on the Edina Public Schools ("Racial Identity Politics are ruining Edina’s fabled schools”).  Today the paper features two commentaries in opposition, and four letters to the editor (all opposed). Together, they provide a window on why our public schools face the ideological assault they do. The first commentary is the most revealing. It’s headlined “Why it’s crucial for today’s students to unlearn racism.” The author is Annie Mogush Mason, Program Director of Elementary Teacher Education at the University of Minnesota. Though Mason asserts that “Kersten’s commentary rests on untenable ground throughout,”...

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