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A longer school year? dents say: Don't go there By NORMAN DRAPER • ndraper@startribune.com FRIDAY, APRIL 7, 2006 STAR TRIBUNE TWIN CITIHS BS House restricts ds think about a proposal to add five weeks to the school yeaz? The Senate Education Committee got an embers of the committee's Youth Advisory CouncH sat in on discussions of the proposal. The idea, which vnnesota school superintendents, doesn't stand a chance of passing this yeaz and has slim~prospects for years to come. That's partly because of the cost - $700 million a yeaz in extra teacher pay and program- ntingair conditioning -and partly because of lost summer vacation. Elden the proposal's chief Senate au- 2-Edina, noted that his stance has made him unpopular among his own four daughters. But proponents say onal classroom days aze needed if Minnesota students are to compete with students from other countries aze in school a lot longer. Here's what some Youth Advisory Council members had to say: SINTHENATION?)) ELIZABETH STEYER Junior,MinnesotaStateAcademyfortheDeaf 700 MILLION (IN ADDITIONAL COSTS) INCLUDE iIING FOR THE SCHOOLS? I CAN TELL YOU THAT UNE OR JULY AND IT'S 95 DEGREES AND HUMID D TI"S CALCULUS CLASS, I WILL NOT BE PAYING ATTENTION. I CAN GUARANTEE YOU THAT. )> DYLAN KHLLY Seniox,HighlandPazkHighSchool,St.Pau1 (( LET'S USE THAT MONEY AND MAKE THE TIME WE ACTUALLY HAVE BETTER. LOWER CLASS SIZES AND eminent domain • The move by the House reins in govemment power to seize property, but it didn't end debate for good By DAVID PETERSON dapeterson@s[artribune.com The Minnesota House vot- ed115-171ate'Thursday torein in the use of eminent domain, the process by which govern- ments can take private prop- erty for community or rede- velopmentprojects. But a lengthy battle over whether to exempt two proj- ects seemed to foreshadow a future in which hazd-pressed rnmmunities wme forward to make the case that important ventures could be blocked. Forthe timebeing,however, advocates of the status quo ac- knowledgedthat the vote, rnm- ingafter aneven more lopsid- edvote inthe Senate, amounts to a rnmprehensive defeat. "We have made a very sig- nificant shift in this state on eminent domain;' said Louis Jambois, executive duector of the Association of Metropol- itanMunicipalities. "We have gone from a reasonably liber- al position, nationally, to be- ing one of several states that now severely restrict its use:' Eminent domain could still be used for its tradition- al purposes of acquiring land for things such as roads and schools, thoughboth sides con- cededthat extra layers of pro- tection for property owners would be liable to add millions [o the cost of those deals. What it seeks to throttle backis an increasingmunicipal aggressiveness, ascities age, to acquire blighted properties and tum them over to devel- opers of new projects. Proper- ties deemedblighted rnuld still be acquired. but some cities say the bill sets the bar so high that that will razely happen. Leaders of both parties agree, however, that the bar bas been much too low in the past. "The prior standard for blight was too low, but this bill will gradually erode the very core of our cities;' said Rep. Keith Ellison, DFL-Min- neapolis. "People who live in place with real blight, real mn- tantination, their lives will get worse. People will move to pristine green fields instead." But Jeff Johnson, R Plym- outh, the bID's chief author, said it rights a situation in which government powers grew "extremely expansive," to the point where things be- gan happening that."many people couldn't believe were happening in America." The bill is part of a nation- al explosion of legislation in response to last summer's controversial U.S. Supreme Court decision allowing gov- ernment agencies to acquire private property, regazdless of whether the owners wish to sell it, for purposes of eco- nomic development People on both sides of the Minnesota bill predicted a future in which cities make special appeals for their own projects -and Thursday's session offered evidence. Two legislators - a Dem- ocrat from a fast-ring suburb and a Republican from a rural city -asked their colleagues to exempt major projects un- derway in tbeir rnmmunities. Rep. Bazbaza Goodwin, DFL-Columbia Heights, saiu the bill endangers a proj- ect many df her constituents support. Along Central Av- enue neaz the city's south- ernborder with Minneapolis, she said, the city has invested neazly $1 million already in a project that involves no pri- vate homes, only businesses, but is stalled by a single hold- out. "I have never heazd any- one object to this project;' she said, but it wouldn't qual- ify for eminent domain un- der the bill's new rules, she added. An amendment that would exempt that project, and a bridge in Sauk Rapids, ulti- mately was not adopted, but backers said they'd try again when aHouse-Senate con- ference committee meets. David Peterson • 612-673-4440. BENEFIT FOR THE STUDENTS OF MINNESOTA WHEN WE'RE ALREADY ONE OP Photos by RENEE JONES 6CFBVEIDER reneejones@ startribune.com