• I've been enjoying a solid week of budget hearings:  Departments of Education, Agriculture, Human Resources, Economic Development, and the Board of Regents. We're playing catch-up in several areas.   This is the first year I've served in the legislature that we've addressed some of the backlog of needs around the state.  The problem is that we're playing catch-up everywhere except in education and Medicaid.
• The Department of Education says that their focus moving forward will be working with lowest performing schools, and attempting to reduce the achievement gap especially in graduation rates among our Native American Students.  The graduation rate for Native Americans statewide in 2012 was 46%.  The Governor's Pro

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