The longer we read Tony Kennedy's story, 'No Child Left Inside' grant program opens with a bang, Applications gush in for $1.2M in program money, the more we felt we'd entered into an alternative universe of Minnesota legislative history:
Minnesota’s “No Child Left Inside” legislation had its detractors earlier this year, including lawmakers who disliked the naming similarity to “No Child Left Behind,” the signature education reform of President George W. Bush.
But the $1.2 million grant program opened last week with an explosion of interest from around the state.
“Call it Merry Christmas if you want … it was a really good idea,” said state Sen. Bill Ingebrigtsen of Alexandria, a key Republican on natural resources issues.
Ingebrigtsen was indeed a co-sponsor of SF868, the Senate version of the bill; Senator Foung Hawj, DFL-St. Paul, was the chief author in the Senate. However, Ingebrigtsen was the only Republican sponsor of the legislation in either house ( HF133 and SF868), although he didn't make it to last week's ceremonial signing of the bill by the governor (above).
But readers might come away with the idea this was a Republican idea, since it' not until the tenth paragraph of Kennedy' article that we learn about the House author of the bill:
State Rep. Jamie Becker-Finn, D-Roseville, championed the bill as a way to engage a wide spectrum of grassroots groups that care about declining participation trends. For instance, Minnesota has experienced an 11% decline in the sale of resident fishing licenses over the past nine years despite a growing population.
“It’s concerning, and most folks see the value of getting kids off screens and into the outdoors,” Becker-Finn said.
She said there was probably less “pushback” against her bill in the Republican-controlled Senate than there was in the House.
Ingebrigtsen said there was squabbling within his caucus over the name of Becker-Finn’s bill, but that debate took a back seat to the legislation’s intent. The $1.2 million appropriation is small in comparison to the state’s overall budget but a good first step, he said.
“People are obviously paying attention to it,’’ he said.
Whatever that pushback was, the Star Tribune isn't going to tell readers about it. Fortunately, several venues--including Bluestem Prairie--did cover the "pushback" in the House at the time it happened.
In Questions of equal access, outdoors outreach come out of bill debate, Lillie News staff writer Matt Hudson reported on a remarkable moment in the Minnesota House Environment and Natural Resources Committee:
The proposed bill was straightforward. It would create a grant program aimed at getting kids into the outdoors.
The bill’s author, state Rep. Jamie Becker-Finn, DFL-Roseville, gave the bill the title No Child Left Inside. She introduced it to the House Environment and Natural Resources Policy Committee on Jan. 30.
Becker-Finn told the committee that to maximize reach, the grants in the bill should focus on finding new groups of would-be outdoors enthusiasts. That means low income families, immigrants and people of color, all of whom have statistically lower access and participation rates in the great American outdoors.
Facing pushback about why existing state programs fall short, she said that the best conduit into those communities are often the organizations that are already there.
“We cannot just keep thinking that we know best and that we can send someone from the dominant culture into another community and when they say, ‘Listen to me. This is what you need to do,’ that that community is obligated to trust and engage with that person,” said Becker-Finn, who represents House District 42B.
The tone of the committee discussion changed. Some committee members took offense to Becker-Finn’s comment and said as much.
“I can tell you your program is not going to go very far if you’re going to go around and you’re going to label people you don’t know,” said state Rep. Dale Lueck, R-Aitkin. “Label people you don’t know and anticipate how they’re going to deal with human beings. I find your comments about the dominant community very offensive.”
There was some back-and-forth in the official committee parlance. Lueck demanded an apology. Becker-Finn said none was needed. State Rep. Dan Fabian, R-Roseau, said he was troubled by Becker-Finn’s comments. State Rep. John Persell, a Bemidji DFLer and committee chair, tried to smooth things out. Everyone’s heart is in the right place, he said.
Near the end of the hearing, Rep. Aisha Gomez, DFL-Minneapolis, was exasperated by it all, particularly by what she called hostility toward Becker-Finn’s bill presentation.
“I’m surprised at a lack of basic understanding about the history of our country, where we are, what the realities that people in Minnesota are living with, as indicated by some of the conversations that we had today,” she said.
(The Lillie chain of suburban papers closed earlier this month. We'll miss them.)
We posted about the scuffle--and include audio from the audio-only archives in Dominant culture: Lueck gets in a huff about proposal aimed at getting kids into the outdoors.
We followed up in Aitkin Co Land Commish: local conservation center would benefit from Becker-Finn bill:
Back on February 6, Bluestem reported in Dominant culture: Lueck gets in a huff about proposal aimed at getting kids into the outdoors that the Aitken County Republican state representative was offended on the part of local environmental education center:
The day after the [House Environment and Natural Resources Policy] committee meeting, Lueck said in an interview that he took offense on behalf of the people at his local outdoors outfit, the Long Lake Conservation Center near Palisade. He perceived that Becker-Finn attacked the ability of those organizations to conduct diverse outreach.
Interestingly enough, Aitkin County Land Commissioner Rich Courtemanche showed up yesterday to support the bill at a special informational hearing at an informational hearing Friday in the Environment and Natural Resources Committee, which met at the Dodge Nature Center in West St. Paul, according to KARE 11's John Croman in New push to get for children outdoors. . . .
While the Aitkin County Land Commissioner was at the hearing, committee member Lueck was far, far away. At the Brainerd Dispatch, Gabriel Lagarde reports in Eggs & Issues forum participants talk scrambled politics in St. Paul:
The Brainerd Lakes Chamber of Commerce's Eggs & Issues forum is an annual breakfast and interactive panel discussion featuring Brainerd lakes area legislators Friday morning, Feb. 15, at Madden's Resort on Gull Lake.
The panel included state Reps. Josh Heintzeman, R-Nisswa, John Poston, R-Lake Shore, and Dale Lueck, R-Aitkin, . . .
Both Heintzeman and Lueck serve on the House Environment and Natural Resources Finance Division, but apparently scrambing politics with the local chamber of commerce was more important than hearing testimony in a committee, even if a local official traveled all the way from Aitkin County to a nature center in West St. Paul to give testimony.
In short, the lawmaker whose "good idea" this was faced demands for an apology and accusations that the bill would harm programs in another lawmaker's district. That's more than pushback. Perhaps Lueck can apologize now to Becker-Finn. Or will he just pretend that this was Bill Ingebrigtsen's idea.
Photo: Last week's ceremonial signing of the bill by Governor Walz. From the press release at Becker-Finn's official webpage: Gov. Walz Signs Rep. Jamie Becker-Finn's No Child Left Inside Bill.
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