By J. Patrick Coolican | Editor in Chief
Good morning, Reformers.
This is the final day of a family vacation, as our 4-year-old enters St. Paul Public Schools’ pre-K program Thursday.
Meaning: Minnesota’s childcare predicament is no longer my problem! J/k. It remains among our most important public policy challenges: We have some of the most expensive childcare in the nation, while early childhood workers continue to receive paltry wages.
More than a decade ago, then-Gov. Mark Dayton proposed universal pre-K. Many Republicans agreed with the idea in principle, if not his plan to implement it using public schools. (Which would mean lots of new members of the DFL’s most important ally, Education Minnesota.)
We still haven’t done it, even as the evidence on the importance of early childhood development has piled up and Minnesota’s childcare costs have soared.
Related: In our district, kindergarten and pre-K start tomorrow, Sept. 10. I was glad to see MPR News cover the late start this week and potential advantages of starting earlier, which some districts experimented with because the Legislature gave them more flexibility than usual this year and next due to Labor Day’s late place on the calendar. The piece includes an unintentionally funny counterargument from the superintendent in Brainerd. MPR paraphrases: “Family-run businesses, resorts and other tourism-focused businesses rely on students to help staff their restaurants, man their docks and keep things running during the summer.”
(Why have school at all when these kids could be working?!)
Missing from the report, however: Minnesota students attend school 165 days a year, compared to the national norm of 180. That’s three weeks of school. If we do the right thing and add days, starting after Labor Day would give districts less flexibility to get to 180 without going deep into June, when students’ eyes are understandably peering outside at the warming days.
If you’re a supporter of more education funding, here’s how to think about it: adding 15 days of school is a politically palatable way to increase the education funding base by a comparable amount — 9%. You could give districts the choice to add days, but only districts that add days would receive the extra funding.
I promise I won’t bring this up again — until next August.
(Photo by Nicole Neri/Minnesota Reformer)
By Alyssa Chen
The 2026 Minnesota State Fair’s record-smashing attendance during its first two days had Minnesotans wondering if this year’s crowds might reach historic heights. It certainly felt that way with people lining up for blocks for glazed donuts, packing in tight to watch a cow give birth and filling the Grandstand for Weird Al Yankovic.
Total attendance ended up being around 1.9 million attendees, slightly lower than attendance the prior two years and falling short of the pre-pandemic 2019 record of 2.1 million attendees.
Some other fun numbers in here including that the Mouth Trap sold 72,000 pounds of cheese curds and there were over 280 submissions for the category of best chocolate chip cookie — over double the number of submissions a decade ago.
By Atra Mohamed
Once hopeful that the drawdown of Operation Metro Surge would bring shoppers and eaters back to stores and restaurants, businesses are finding that customers have not always returned.
Ahmed Said, a shop owner at Riverside Mall, said since the ICE raids began in December, he has not seen more than three or four customers a day.
“That is less than what I used to see in an hour. It is very hard to continue at this pace, and I do not want to walk away from the business I have been building for 14 years,” Said said.
Said said he has been paying his shop rent out of pocket because the business has not been able to support itself.
These anecdotal reports match preliminary data from government and other researchers.
By Kevin Hardy
Trump has repeatedly targeted Canada, traditionally a close American ally, since returning to the White House last year. But his August move to impose 50% tariffs on billions of dollars of Canadian imports has heightened tensions, pushing Canada to retaliate with its own tariffs on hundreds of American-made products that went into effect Tuesday.
The trade standoff has put Republican candidates in a tough position with an electorate already fed up with high prices and underscores ongoing concerns about how federal trade policy will affect American business and state economies.
Think: Maine, Michigan — and Minnesota.
IN OTHER NEWS
Ilhan Omar cleared of wrongdoing after overstating assets by millions | Wall Street Journal gift link
Oil tops $100 a barrel | Bloomberg gift link
OH BY THE WAY
Bombshell reporting from Haaretz (subscription required, unfortunately) and today matched by Times of Israel (no paywall on this one):
“Some 10 days before Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack on Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was personally warned by the leader of the United Arab Emirates that Hamas was planning a major offensive move against Israel, but did not update Israeli security leaders and did nothing with the information.”
Remember: New York Times reporting showed Netanyahu was the key player convincing President Donald Trump to attack Iran.
Have a great day all! JPC
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