Minnesota Court of Appeals ruling forces greater transparency in school district elections Minnesota taxpayers received welcomed news Monday from a Minnesota Court of Appeals opinion. The ruling states that school districts must follow campaign finance disclosure laws when using taxpayer funds to pass bond and tax referenda. The opinion says:
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Sunshine Review: Minnesota Falls Short of Excellence on Transparency Test Speaking of greater transparency needed in government, at least one recent independent study showed Minnesota government doesn’t quite make the grade when it comes to disclosing vital information to the public. According to the latest analysis from the Sunshine Review, a non-profit organization that advocates for greater state and local government transparency, Minnesota received a “B” grade on the group’s 10-point transparency checklist. Their criteria measures the availability of certain public documents on government websites. “Although a ‘B’ grade may surpass many other states, Minnesotans deserve excellence when it comes to something as critical as transparency,” said Michael Barnhart, president of Sunshine Review. “Minnesota voters deserve officials who will not only balance the budget in a timely fashion, but disclose vital information about everything from the quality of their children’s schools to how much they pay in taxes.” The state website earned a B, the same letter grade awarded to certain city and school district websites. The five largest Minnesota county websites earned an average “C” grade. “As Minnesota rebounds from their budget crisis, they need to put a priority on making their government more transparent and accountable to the people,” Barnhart said.
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Daycare unionization moving forward? A contentious and yet largely unknown union organizing campaign thatFFM flagged in June appears to be moving forward. According to the SEIU Local 284 website:
The plot to organize the roughly 12,000 licensed home-based daycare providers, headed by SEIU and AFSCME, has been in the works for several years. Different union representatives have gone door-to-door throughout the state, gathering signatures from daycare providers that could give them collective bargaining rights. Our report showed that in many cases, the daycare providers thought they were signing up for more information, only to find out after they signed the union’s documents that the fine print said they were granting the union collective bargaining rights on their behalf.
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MN State News this week: Debt Ceiling, regulation, and more Minnesota State News has been busy this week covering the latest local, state, and even national government stories. See a few of our most recent articles below and continue to check www.mnstatenews.com for new content throughout the week.
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