Dear friends and neighbors,

Back on February 2nd, Punxsutawney Phil indeed saw his shadow. I know I’m not alone longing for a little actual “global warming” if Punxsutawney Phil’s prediction of an six additional weeks of winter continues to be this chilly. Despite the sub-zero temperatures outside, hope you had a warm Valentine’s Day last week!

Valentine's Day at the MN Capitol: Sen. Lucero visiting with homeschooling constituents from Hanover from Woodcrest Baptist Academy and with an 8th-grade school group last week.

Every three years the State of Minnesota administers the Minnesota Student Survey (MSS) to all children in grades five, eight, nine, and eleven, and each cycle I remind parents of their right to opt their children out. The MSS has been hijacked to harvest personal data from students via intrusive and inappropriate questions on topics including social justice, equity, the gender spectrum, racial oppression, illicit drug/alcohol use, and more. Radicals within the MN Department of Education use avenues such as the MSS to normalize destructive behaviors and attitudes by undermining family values. I’ve included a screenshot below of several revolting questions taken directly from the survey.

I am very thankful for groups such as Child Protection League Action and the Center for the American Experiment working to bring awareness to the filth of the survey and assisting parents protecting their children. I encourage every parent to notify their school district to opt their children out from taking the survey.

In August 2021, former members of the Elk River School Board, during former Superintendent Dan Bittman’s tenure, sought to undermine transparency and accountability by voting to hide open forum public comments from being recorded, live streamed, or video posted. Many around our community were dismayed at the vote which set the stage for the movement to replace the former Board Members. The 2022 and 2024 cycles resulted in the election of John Anderson, Mindy Freiberg, Monica Madsen, and Mike Nordos to the Elk River School Board with the goal of governing with a pro parent / pro transparency / pro accountability objective. Last week, the Elk River Area School Board voted to restore the recording, live streaming, and video posting of public comments. This is a significant victory with many more victories expected to follow!

In an act toward returning transparency and accountability, the Elk River Area School Board last week voted to restore the recording, live streaming, and video posting of public comments.

Last week, Senate Republicans announced a commonsense plan to hold government accountable and stop waste, fraud, and abuse of taxpayer money. The plan is part of Republicans' ‘Minnesotans First’ agenda for the 2025 legislative session and can be viewed at the following link HERE.

Recent polling show stopping waste, fraud, and abuse of taxpayer dollars are high priorities of Minnesotans. Well over half a billion dollars has been identified as lost to fraud over the last six years of Walz’s tenure. Incredibly shameful!  

While Gov. Walz continues to twiddle his thumbs, Republicans are taking action with the creation of the Fraud and Oversight Committee in the MN House. Republicans are committed to putting a stop to the fraud despite Gov. Walz and legislative Democrats attempts to distract and roadblock. 

Last year, Democrats passed a bill advancing Socialism by mandating schools provide taxpayer funded lunches to every student, even those able to afford it. As expected, cost of the “free lunch” program ballooned well above what was budgeted. This year the program will cost taxpayers $584,000,000 or the equivalent of giving every teacher in the state a $10,000 raise.

I’ve heard from many parents and school staff food waste has vastly increased. One account I’ve heard is some schools prevent selecting individual food items. For example, if a student wants only a chocolate milk to go with the brown bag lunch the student brought from home, the student must take the entire school meal. Then, the student takes the chocolate milk and throws the rest of the lunch away.

There is no such thing as a free lunch. Under Socialism, somebody else is paying. In this case, those footing the bill are hardworking taxpayers. My comments in committee can be viewed at the following link HERE.

Capitol Address

95 University Avenue W.
Minnesota Senate Bldg. 2413
St. Paul, MN 55155

651-296-5655

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