Education Standards' Work on Rulemaking
Rulemaking, often called, "administrative rulemaking," is written guidance on how the legislature's policies are to be implimented by the agencies of the executive branch; it is the manner of policy, not the substance.
Various Minnesota agencies that are part of the education bureaucracy engage in rulemaking, often exceeding constitutional limitations in today's operations. Substantive policies need to be created by the Legislature; rulemaking by executive is limited to setting out a manner of implementing and executing that policy made by the legislature.
Unchecked power can look for the past of least resistence to exert in order to avoid the rigors of checks and balances our separation of powers doctrine requires. Bureaucrats can find it easier to run government policymaking by committees of appointees--making execuses to attempt avoid the legislative process. The Legislature is full of strong and opinionated personalites from a vocal membership who stay in office by promising direct accountability to voters.
Legitimate rulemaking is limited to the function of making clear and consistent the manner of agencies' implementing and executing the policy made by the Legislature. Rulemaking cannot, by the Statutes or the Constitution, be used to get around the Legislature and its procedures and personalities.
PELSB (the Minnesota Professional Educators Licensing & Standards Board)
Education Standards of America is currently in the process of taking PELSB to court over violations of the rulemaking process injurious to many individuals in the education system, kids, parents, and the State as a whole. View the PELSB Webcenter, here.
Education Standards of America is continuing to engage the rulemaking process on what are supposed to be academic skills-development "standards and benchmarks" specific to each discipline and by grade-level or academic progression. It was concern and advocacy over problems with the Social Studies Standards in 2021 that brought the founders of Education Standards of America to create this nonprofit to meet the needs.