Minnesota Education Commissioner Brenda Cassellius says she feels a “personal responsibility for making my world a better place.”

New 2013 test results from the National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP), also known as the "Nation’s Report Card," showed that Minnesota fourth graders had the highest math scores in the nation this year and the 10th best reading scores. Black fourth graders in Minnesota posted the fourth-highest math scores in the nation, moving up from 22nd in the nation two years ago, and improved reading scores by roughly 25 percent since 2009.

Welcomed by some as a long overdue step toward accountability, teacher assessments have also led to troubling headlines in recent months. It was the threat of teacher evaluations that led to a messy teacher strike in Chicago’s public school system, and it was their implementation that inspired education officials in Atlanta to fix students’ scores on standardized tests, leading to criminal charges for teachers and the district superintendent.

"Knowledgeable parents understand that the most important lessons our educators teach won’t show up on an MCA score," Specht said.

Kevin McHenry has been tapped as a new assistant commissioner at the Minnesota Department of Education. McHenry takes over for Rose Chu, who left the agency to take a job at Metropolitan State University.

The bill will increase the basic funding formula to schools by $234 million, or 3 percent, which Marquart said would break down to more than $300 in new spending per student.

Traveling in the House and Senate budget bills are dozens of little-discussed provisions that could become sticking points in final negotiations.

One day this week, East Grand Forks Mayor Lynn Strauss picked up his copy of the Grand Forks Herald to find divergent stories on the paper’s front page. On one side, the Minnesota Legislature was depicted as trying to maneuver under the weight of a $1 billion-plus deficit. On the other, a story noted elected officials in newly booming North Dakota were full of bold new ideas.

Here’s a guide to key policy matters that are likely to be addressed and heavily lobbied in the 2013 legislative session.

The path through any budget session leads to a negotiating table at which the governor and legislative leaders work out the most politically palatable taxing and spending deal they can muster. But the budget is never the only game in town. Before the session endgame gets played out, a network of committees will play host to various and sundry dramas involving policy issues before state government.