By Glenda Holste, Education Minnesota
Education Minnesota trained activists, new and seasoned, to campaign next year for a pro-education governor. The educators union held its first major statewide political conference Nov. 20-21 in St. Paul, drawing about 350 members to build skills and take what they learned home to train others for the 2010 elections.
“The next governor must understand our issues,” Education Minnesota President Tom Dooher said in remarks opening the conference. “We want to empower you, to organize and mobilize you” to ensure that happens, he said. Dooher emphasized collective power and the power of the individual to improve policymaking for public education by electing candidates who understand the importance of schools.
Rep. Tim Walz, D-Minn., the conference keynote speaker picked up the theme by telling the story of his personal journey to represent Minnesota’s 1st District in the U.S. House. Walz, now in his second term, was a social studies teacher when he was inspired to model democratic values by challenging a long-time incumbent. Walz won in an upset in 2006. If educators don’t step up in Minnesota’s crucial elections for governor and the Legislature, Walz said, what will happen is “people are going to be elected who will pursue destructive policy.” The gubernatorial election is “about our children’s future,” Walz said.
The conference featured brainstorming and training for precinct caucuses and conventions next year. Sixteen workshops ranged from how to work in coalition with other unions and pro-education organizations to how to get out the vote with new media tools. Participants included 125 members who had never been active in their local or in politicalcampaigns.