Superintendent
Minnetonka Public Schools
AASA Executive Committee Member
In late October, the Region 3 Representatives from the AASA Governing Board held the quarterly virtual meeting. During this meeting, Sasha Pudelski, Director of Advocacy for AASA, provided an update on the work she and her team have been doing on our behalf.
AASA has been asked to advocate for extensions that allow districts to spend their remaining ESSER 3 funds. This is in response to challenges completing construction as well as staffing challenges. While this appears to be an issue in other parts of the country, this has not been raised as a concern within our AASA Region.
Another area of focus for the current year is related to technology both with cybersecurity as well as infrastructure. This fall, funding was provided to support Wireless Internet on busing. We should all expect communications about how to access these funds over the next few months.
We continue to wait for updated guidance about Child Nutrition. The new guidance will likely include sugar reduction guidelines. AASA, with input from leaders across the country, has asked for flexibility and time as these guidelines are changed since supply challenges and staffing issues are already causing issues in many districts.
The final area of interest at the Capitol, and a topic covered in a recent executive order, is Artificial Intelligence. AASA is working on a model policy for school districts, but this is slow rolling because the environment is changing so rapidly. There is no current legislation that we need to be aware of, but we should anticipate this to be on the US Department of Education’s radar, given the federal interest.
The next AASA governance board meeting will be in early January where we will get another update on the educational agenda for 2024. If you have questions about these items, your MASA AASA governing board members are: Chris Mills from Thief River Falls, Craig Oftedahl from Luverne, Jeff Elstad from Owatonna, and Lisa Sayles Adams from Eastern Carver County. David Law also represents Region 3 on the AASA Executive Board alongside a representative from Iowa, Deron Stender.
