Former Minnesota Supreme Court Justice and Minneapolis Federal Reserve President Propose Amending the State Constitution to Help Close Achievement Gaps

Alan Page, former Minnesota Supreme Court justice, and Neel Kashkari, president of the Minneapolis Federal Reserve, have proposed an amendment to the state’s constitution to make quality education a fundamental right for all Minnesota children.

Kashkari and Page have met with education, labor, business, nonprofit, philanthropy, and elected leaders over the past few months to discuss the need to amend the constitution.  Their outreach included discussions with Mike Ciresi and Roberta Walburn, trustees of the Ciresi Walburn Foundation for Children. 

Ciresi and Walburn were among more than a dozen leaders, including Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison and Ecolab CEO Doug Baker, who expressed support for the proposed amendment when it was announced this week. Their support follows the Ciresi Walburn Foundation’s successful 2019 billboard campaign which called attention to Minnesota’s glaring achievement gaps.

“Minnesotans—all of us—must face the hard truth that we have been failing too many of our children for too many years,” Ciresi and Walburn said in a statement. “The proposed amendment will put us on a path where we can be proud of our commitment to a quality education not only for some but for all of our children.”

More information including the proposed new language for the education clause of Minnesota’s constitution is available in the Federal Reserve’s news release and a recent Star Tribune article.