New Education Committees and Chairs in the Legislature

Here is how Politics In Minnesota describes the new chairs for the Education Committees in the Minnesota House and Senate:

House Education Finance: Pat Garofalo

Entering his fourth term, Garofalo is known around the Legislature as one of the most thoughtful conservative voices on K-12 matters - “not a school-basher, but a genuine innovator,” in the words of one former GOP colleague. Known as a pragmatist, he has better relationships with DFLers than many of his caucus mates.

Garofalo hails from a very conservative party of the Twin Cities suburbs. Early in his legislative career, he drew a GOP challenger who had a base of support among local Republicans despite the fact Garofalo had cast conservative votes on guns and social issues. He weathered the storm and has won re-election by strong margins. Garofalo has a 73 percent lifetime ranking from the Taxpayers League of Minnesota.

House Education Reform: Sondra Erickson

During her previous tenure in the House (1998-2007), Erickson served as vice-chair of K-12 education policy during the last Republican House majority, and counted as her proudest accomplishment the repeal of the state’s Profile of Learning standards. An advocate of local control, she was also known to fulminate against federal No Child Left Behind standards. Erickson is more strident and more doctrinaire than her budget committee counterpart in the House, Pat Garofalo. “She’s a pedagogue,” notes one House source, “and she is always ready to teach everybody what’s what.” Her committee will likely be the venue where legislators resurrect the bill that allows alternative pathways to teacher licensure. The measure has been a priority of the Obama administration. The statewide teacher’s union fiercely opposed the proposal last spring.

Senate Education Budget & Policy: Gen Olson

There were rumblings early in the year that Olson was among the group of long-entrenched GOP moderates in the Senate who were getting a push toward the door. Sens. Dennis Frederickson and Pat Pariseau took the hint and announced their retirement; Olson dealt with the pressures by announcing that her current two-year term - her ninth in a Senate tenure that began in 1983 - would be her last. She thus takes up a critical gavel as a lame duck.

Olson has a rather lonely role in representing the traditionalists in the caucus, a fact that was underscored when she ran for Senate president after the election and lost to Michelle Fischbach. Olson has a long background on Senate K-12 education committees and played a key role in abolishing the State Board of Education. She memorably broke down in tears in 2005 when the DFL-controlled Senate Education Committee voted against confirming controversial Education Commissioner Cheri Pierson Yecke. Insiders say they expect her to be a calming presence on a flashpoint committee in 2011.