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by Luther Dorr
Two groups from the Minnesota House of Representatives held hearings in Milaca last week and freshman legislator Gail Kulick-Jackson (DFL-Milaca) was part of both of them.
On Tuesday at Milaca City Hall the bipartisan House Jobs Task Force took testimony for nearly five hours and on Wednesday at the high school the House’s Early Childhood Finance and Policy committee took testimony for about 90 minutes.
There was a crowd of about 75 at city hall and about 30 people, seven of them testifying, showed up at the high school’s Dahlager Theater.
Kulick-Jackson, a Milaca attorney, said the meetings are very helpful to legislators.
“Otherwise you’re just working in the world of theory,” she said in an interview after the second meeting. “We’ll never really know.”
For instance, she said, she heard at the Wednesday Early Education meeting that the Lakes & Pines Head Start program has two kids on the waiting list for every one that is in the program.
Kulick-Jackson said legislators find out that there are different issues in rural Minnesota than in the metro area.
“We’ve got programs that work [for early education] but there are so many kids on the waiting list,” she said.
Bob Benes of Lakes & Pines testified that for every child in their Head Start program there were two on the waiting list.
The first two people to testify at the Early Childhood hearing were Milaca preschool teacher Julie Rhoda and Tammy Wickstrom from the Nay-Ah-Shing School in Onamia.
Wickstrom told the five legislators in attendance that there was a waiting list of 52 in the Early Head Start program there, more than the number enrolled, and that there was a waiting list of 29 for the Head Start program.
“Head Start kids are much better prepared for school,” she told the committee.
Lynn Otto from the Allstar Childcare Center in Milaca told committee members about the bureaucratic red tape of getting her business started, such as paying some fees twice.
Early Childhood chair Nora Slavik (DFL-Maplewood) told Otto they have heard some similar stories and that they would like to remedy the situation.
Benes of Lakes & Pines testified that there are 26 school districts in the Lakes & Pines area of 6,100 square miles. He told committee members there is a waiting list of 200-plus for their program of 3 to 5 year olds.
The Jobs Task Force hearing the day before is one of five scheduled and it will be the only one outside of the Twin Cities.
Chaired by high-profile Rep. Tom Rukavina (DFL-Virginia), a legislator for 23 years, the group heard testimony from people around the state.
Some of those from the area who testified were Curt Bauerly of E-Ride Industries in Princeton, Chris Kotsmith of Milaca Building Center and Jeff Brown, an electrical contractor from Foreston.
Kulick-Jackson said it was good to have both meetings in Milaca and to hear concerns of local people.
Besides serving on the Early Childhood committee in her first year as a legislator she is on the Public Safety, Civil Justice and Energy Policy committees.
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