The political season begins

Not only are we in the midst of a presidential political season that appears to be generating a lot of interest, but the Minnesota legislature goes into session on Tuesday as well. The legislative session has all of the components of an interesting session: a rather large projected budget shortfall, the state moving into or already in a recession, a governor whose attentions are at least temporarily focused on the national presidential scene, and both Republicans and Democrats alike firing opening salvos that at least give the appearance of having sme of the same acrimony that we have seen as of late. NCCS students were able to talk with Ron Shimanski, R-18A, who visited the school on Friday the 8th of February. He talked about his political journey and then delved into some of the upcoming issues: hold the line on taxes, ask educators to use the money they have been given wisely, and make the climate friendly to business. Students were pleasantely surprised to find that Representative Shimanksi is a strong supporter of charter schools. He answered questions from the students, and talked after the session of how impressed he was with the level of questions from students: They wanted to know about state support for education in general and charter schools specifically, and most of their questions stayed focused on education. We will be getting a group of students together to attend the Minnesota Association of Charter Schools lobby day in March. We believe that it is important for students to know that they are part of the political process, and that what happends in St. Paul during the legislative session has a direct impact on our daily lives.