Higher Education
In 1993, I created the Iron Range Scholarship Endowment dedicating mine royalties to support Minnesota resident freshmen at each U of M campus, with scholarships awarded in proportion to resident enrollment at each campus, More than 12,000 students have received scholarships totaling over $14 million – the University of Minnesota’s largest endowed scholarship program.
With tuition increasing about 50% between 2000 and 2006, I made it a priority to keep MnSCU tuition increases under 5% each year I’ve been chair of the higher education finance committee
Despite the Governor’s objections, I supported permanent funding for the Mayo/U of M Partnership for Biotechnology and Medical Genomics, to maintain the critical jobs and benefits that bioscience investment brings to Minnesota.
I created a research endowment for mineral research at the U of M Natural Resources Research Institute, with an investment of more than $14 million thus far, to keep the state in the forefront on the wise use of its resources. Without research support, the U of M would not have developed a process to convert low grade ore into taconite, and there would be no thriving Iron Range today.
While supporting financial aid for low income students, I also established a middle income scholarship program for U of M students from families up to $100 thousand income who don’t qualify for other grant programs
To protect access to and quality in MnSCU instruction, I directed appropriations to be used to increase spending in the classroom, not on bureaucracy.
K-12
I have made school trust and permanent school fund lands a priority, improving their management and the value of the lands, resulting in more money to all school districts
Quality of schools can’t depend on where you live so I sponsored legislation to provide fair funding for all schools around the state.
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