At the end of the Swift County Monitor article, Miller wants local school boards to be given more power, we were surprised to read this item:
In his state of the state address last week, Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton said he did not support the four-day school week, saying..."The era of shortchanging our students’ educations is over."
That information must be a surprise to Governor Dayton, who delivered the remarks in his inaugural address on January 5, 2015.
The state of the state address is a separate event. According to the Governor's communications office, it has not yet been scheduled. Because of the complications resulting from the Governor's surgery, the 2014 State of the State was delivered on April 30, 2014.
While Miller's recent press release from which the implies that he's single-handedly working to resolve the MACCRAY school system's battle to stay open, the school board's own minutes suggest that he's merely picking up work on the timeline that the last state representative put into motion.
Indeed, the West Central Tribune reported on October 15, 2014, that legislative relief was already an option. Check out the article, MACCRAY to repeat pitch for four-day week: May also seek legislation needed to maintain it.
Here's an agenda for a meeting the next week of the 4 Day Week Committee Meeting, excerpted from the MACCRAY school agenda for November 17, 2014.
MACCRAY 4 Day Week Committee Meeting – 10-23-14
Reached by phone, former state representative Andrew Falk confirmed that he and state Senator Lyle Koenen had attended the meeting, and that they had helped set up the earlier meeting with Commissioner Casselius in June. Koenen is continuing work on the timeline with Miller.
This isn't the only place where Miller is seeking credit for the work of others or merely leaving out work some have done. In Friday's email legislative update (not yet posted online), Miller writes:
Thanks to the hard work and dedication of many in Chippewa County, the majority of local funding for a potential veterans home in Montevideo veterans home proposal has already been secured. . . .
In Montevideo’s case, the City and Chippewa County have pledged all but $6 million of the state contribution, and my bill would seek $6 million in bonding proceeds to finish the deal.
But if the committee that's mobilized support for the project is to be believed (and news reports available via Nexis and Google new support the assertion), Miller's forgetting support from other local counties and government units, as well as being silent about the years of work by DFL and Republican leaders in the legislature.
In Sad News To Report, an LTE in the Montevideo American News, the Veterans Committee writes:
Without the support of the City of Montevideo, the Montevideo MIDC, MCDC, EDA, Chippewa, Lac Qui Parle, Swift and Yellow Medicine County, Townships, local financial institutions, American Legion, VFW, and individuals we could have not raised five million for this project. We on behalf of our Veterans, thank you for this support.
Comments