Bill would fund Minn. teacher evaulations

Minnesota lawmakers will consider a measure next week to fund the state's teacher evaluation system.

Legislation passed in 2010 requires evaluation of all teachers on their performance in the classroom, and on the academic performance of their students, beginning in the 2014-15 year.

"The teacher evaluation legislation that was passed in 2010 is an unfunded mandate," said DFL Rep. Connie Bernardy, who authored the bill. "I'm trying to get some resources so we can have really good, effective teacher evaluation and teacher development."

Bernardy's bill does not yet have a dollar figure attached to it. Estimates of the yearly cost of the evaluation system range from $80 million to more than $200 million.

Bernardy said her bill calls for the state to provide funding to schools to pay for the evaluations.

"School districts need to have people to actually do the evaluation, that have the training to do that and can be effective in that role and also there's data management collection," she said.

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