Legislative Priorities
Strategic Partnerships - Providing Solutions
The nine regional Service Cooperatives independently, and jointly through the Minnesota Service Cooperatives (MSC), can reach all corners of the state. With nearly 50 years of working with educational institutions, local governments, and many other organizations, they understand the regional nuances and needs across Minnesota’s diverse communities.
These regional board-governed agencies fulfill their statutory charge each day by developing innovative collaborations that support local government and education in service to the state’s residents and students. The Service Cooperatives stand ready to support the Governor and Legislature with the implementation of initiatives bridging gaps in education, workforce, and public health.
The Service Cooperatives are prepared to advance partnerships with School Districts and the MN Department of Education through:
- Expanding allowable uses of Student Support Personnel Aid to cover literacy supports and behavioral intervention supports, and paid internships for new staff through direct underwriting of Cooperative programs.
- Expanded funding for teacher apprenticeships and establishing aspiring school leadership academies.
- Continued funding for the Minnesota Principal Survey.
- Statewide Career and Technical Education Consortia programming.
- Increased facility funding for Cooperative Facilities.
- Additional funding for the READ Act, including expanding Literacy Incentive Aid to Cooperative and Intermediate programs.
- Safe Schools and Innovative Mental Health programming.
The service cooperatives can move quickly to help the state with other statewide and regional initiatives through:
- Facilitating regional partnerships to solve workforce needs;
- Alternative pathways to educator licensure, border state licensure flexibility and additional pathways for short-call substitute teachers;
- Offering public employees cost-effective health insurance solutions;
- Support for rural broadband access and closing the digital divide; and
- Assisting in coordination of statewide efforts in response to public health or other emergencies.