Neighbors,
It was great to see many of you at the 20th Annual Andover Family Fun Fest this past weekend! My volunteers had a great time handing out candy and stickers at the parade, and I enjoyed having the opportunity to meet many new residents and reconnect with old friends. This was my third year calling bingo in the Bingo tent on Friday night – congratulations to the lucky winners! As always, the Fun Fest wrapped up with a fantastic fireworks show. Thank you to the many volunteers that put on this successful community event – I am already excited for next year’s celebrations!
In addition to the many celebrations in our community, we are blessed to have great facilities where we can gather and participate in fun activities. Congratulations to the Andover YMCA and Community Center on 10 great years of serving our community!
Many new laws took effect July 1, 2015. Some to note:
Education Laws Focused on Students
The Anoka-Hennepin School District received a per-pupil increase of $435 over the next biennium, and the St. Francis School District received a per-pupil increase of $424. We put dollars directly onto the formula, making a real difference for our students. We also provided more funds for early education scholarships and school readiness programs, putting our youngest learners first. In addition to education funding, we reduced student testing and streamlined teacher licensure to ensure that all of our students have an opportunity to engage in effective teaching.
Ensuring High-Quality Long Term Care
This session, we implemented a statewide rate of reimbursement for our long-term care facilities. We also implemented a new loan forgiveness program for long-term care workers to attract and retain caring professionals to this important field, and made long-term care insurance plans more affordable for Minnesotans planning ahead.
Improving Parenting Time to Meet the Needs of Children
My legislation to ensure that all custody and parenting time decisions reached by the court are in the best interests of the child has taken effect. This legislation will help the courts to more strongly take into consideration the vital roles of both mom and dad in their children’s lives, and take into account new factors for reaching parenting time and custody decisions.
Please continue to stay in touch throughout the interim with any thoughts, questions, or concerns. You can reach me via phone at (651) 296-4231, or via email at rep.peggy.scott@house.mn.
Have a great weekend,
Rep. Peggy Scott