1.) Gov. Mark Dayton signed $440 million in tax cuts into law late Friday, reports the Pioneer Press. It followed a day in which both ...

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.

**UPDATED** Senate and House members continue to squabble over leadership of a committee that's supposed to provide oversight for the Minnesota Vikings stadium and other sports facilities.

K-12 education finance bills that account for roughly 40 percent of the state’s general fund spending are moving through the House and Senate floors this week.

The state House on Tuesday passed a $15.7 billion K-12 budget bill after seven hours of debate. The bill passed 83-50 with 10 Republicans joining all DFLers in support.

By the time the bills pass to their respective floors, the House and Senate versions are likely to be around $100 million apart.

A year after Republican legislators joined forces with DFL Gov. Mark Dayton to enact changes to state education policy, the GOP’s 2012 K-12 agenda is foundering.

In the always contentious arena of K-12 education policy, the movement to create a new teacher evaluation system in Minnesota finds Republicans and Democrats, business and labor groups agreeing that changes are needed.

Many Republican candidates from greater Minnesota have hammered constantly on what they called school funding inequities that favored districts in the Twin Cities metro area. But Democrats and urban school advocates are outraged.

Chaudhary's primary loss made him the body's fifth departing chair