(St. Paul, MN) — Critics and Republican candidate for governor Scott Jensen are exchanging harsh words over his pledge to convert very-low-performing public schools — including Minneapolis — into charter schools, self-governed schools, or non-public schools.
Education Minnesota teachers’ union president Denise Specht calls Jensen’s ten-point education plan “the greatest hits of failed and discredited policies from the last 20 years.”
Specht says Jensen’s agenda includes book bans, MAGA (Make America Great Again) trends of whitewashing history lessons, harassing educators, and generally making schools unwelcoming and ineffective for all students.
Jensen responds that Minnesota’s K-through-12 public school system is failing and the teachers union is responsible, saying the union is about raw control, compliance and corruption — and that Specht knows it.