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The Governor and the Educators
Hockey, Hawaii and new goals for education with Gov. Tim Pawlenty and Bloomington and Edina Superintendents Les Fujitake and Ric Dressen
On the last leg of his statewide tour to announce his proposed 2007-08 budget, Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty undoubtedly closed in front of his friendliest audience. Sharing the limelight with scheduled speakers Bloomington and Edina Superintendents Les Fujitake and Ric Dressen, a capacity crowd of Edina and West Bloomington residents greeted the recently re-elected Pawlenty with cheers and a standing ovation as he thanked local Republican activists for their work and laid out his agenda for continuing to reform state government.
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While acknowledging the party’s setbacks locally and nationally in the 2006 elections - and thus the transformation of his role into the state’s “goalie” against the tax-and-spend antics of the DFL House and Senate - Pawlenty reiterated his belief that on the issues, voters still prefer most Republican issues. “Most people want their basic needs taken care of....and for the state to keep government out of their way,” Pawlenty said. And in order for the GOP to return to winning election and not just the battle for ideas, Pawlenty stressed the need to broaden the party’s appeal beyond the base. “We have to have a party that excites Republicans but also appeals to another slice of Minnesotans that gets us to 51%. Or in my case, 47%,” the Governor joked.
Addressing some of the critics of 9.3% increased budget, Pawlenty reminded audience members that 3.2% of the state’s new spending was already locked in and that the additional 6.1% was among the smallest increases in the last 40 years - with the previous margin occurring in his first term. Despite the increase, Pawlenty remains focused on a state “living within its means” as best as possible, vowing to veto any spending bill that exceeds the parameters laid out in his budget.
One of the focal points of Pawlenty’s budget fit perfectly with the evening’s other speakers. “We have to begin to change the schools,” Pawlenty advised even while praising both Superintendents for their outstanding work in two of the state’s hallmark school districts. “We don’t live in a ‘one-size fits all’ world....schools can’t be an ‘assembly-line’ system and prepare kids for the future,” Pawlenty said. Pawlenty’s focus on performance pay and other measures designed to shake up the status quo met with a positive response from both administrators. “You can’t put schools in a bottle and make them the same,” said Edina Superintendent Ric Dressen.
Introduced by Edina School Board member Bert Ledder, Edina’s new superintendent understands the place of honor both school districts have in Minnesota. Calling Edina and Bloomington “lighthouse” districts, Dressen related his experiences of traveling across the state and meeting other Minnesota educators who repeatedly tell him “we steal, borrow or are inspired by Edina and Bloomington’s ideas.”
 Such praise naturally comes with the challenge of how to continue to improve and for Dressen, the key to Edina’s past and future success remains in its independence and its accountability. Dressen strongly agreed with Pawlenty’s view of educational accountability, believing that teachers and schools need to accountable not just to parents, but students and communities in general. “All of us, whether you have kids or not, need to be part of the solution.”
Like his Edina counterpart, Bloomington superintendent Les Fujitake has been serving in his role for less than a year, but his 11 prior years as the district’s Executive Director of Finance had already proven the words of Bloomington School Board member Arlene Bush of “doing more with Les.” Armed with a slide show, the Hawaii native launched into the variety of challenges facing Bloomington’s massive school district.
A diverse student enrollment has led to increased English teaching needs as 1/10th of students now have English as a second language. And with more second-language students come more second-language parents, many of whom the district is educating right along with their children. Such a learning curve is all the more important to quickly overcome given the new requirements for kindergarten. Basic math and language skills are higher than ever before including that kids entering first grade must master rhyming skills and counting up to 110 in multiples of 2, 5 and 10, facts that wowed audience members.
If there had been any doubt before the evening began, none was left by the time the evening’s three speakers had finished. In the hands of Gov. Pawlenty and superintendents like Ric Dressen and Les Fujitake, residents left feeling confident that Senate District 41 and the state’s educational future would be graduating with honors.
 
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