By Bill Leland, No. 2 Pencil

&8220;Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.&8221;

&8212; Margaret Mead

Back in the mid-1800s an adventurous, entrepreneurial and resourceful group of people chose to make education a constitutional priority of its young newly formed Minnesota state government. They looked to the future and provided the resources and commitment to the youth of this great state an opportunity based on an adequate and equitable public education. Fast forward to today and ask yourself &8212; do we still share this same commitment to educate our youth for their future?

Certainly it is difficult to compare what those citizens sacrificed for students then versus what we are committing to education today at the state and national levels, but it seems like our state founders were more involved and more focused on education than maybe some state leaders are today.

Perhaps the same is true at the most individual level also. As a school board member, I&8217;m always surprised that a school board meeting will fill with people if we&8217;re going to discuss a small change to a wrestling program, but almost no one joins the school board meeting when we&8217;re discussing educational priorities.

I tell myself it is because you trust your elected officials to make sound decisions. I&8217;m concerned that we apply the same passive thinking toward state-level activity on education &8212; to our detriment.

Certainly your local officials try hard to promote public education for the common good of our youth because that helps all of us have a better future. Sometimes it is disheartening when citizens only seek to contact their elected officials based on their personal priorities. In those early days there were fewer choices and opportunities that perhaps made it easier for all citizens to stay collectively focused on the common good.

Also, your local school board members&8217; actions are to a great degree dictated by state and federal mandates and the economics of the district itself.

Thus, local citizens who really want to influence local educational decisions and opportunities must do so at the state level, which is complicated and costs time if not money. Many individuals would feel hesitant at the prospect of advocating something to politicians at state levels.

But have you ever considered the costs of what happens if we as individuals don&8217;t ever try to influence leaders at the state or national level about sound educational priorities we can all agree on? Educating our youth takes money, and everything from books to buses cost a lot more today than yesterday.

In fact, enterprising business people and special interest groups are very aware of the money available to them if they can sell their educational priorities to political leaders in Minnesota or any other state. If you follow the money and look at the direction public education is taking today in Minnesota and all other states, you will see an attack taking place on this great vision of an adequate and equitable public education for all youth.

Should we sit back and allow private industry and individuals to advance their personal interests for monetary gain from the state and federal budgets of education or do we adhere to the principles of our state&8217;s constitutional authors?

Our native son Hubert Humphrey would say &8220;no.&8221; He wrote decisively that &8220;the moral test of government is how it treats those who are in the dawn of life, the children; those who are in the twilight of life, the aged; and those who are in the shadows of life, the sick, the needy and the handicapped.&8221; Our interest in the common educational needs of our children and their adequate and equitable education must always be our top priority.

I invite all community members along with the members of TEAM to join me to become involved in protecting and promoting the causes of pubic education for all youth statewide.

On April 7, a Parent Leadership Summit is scheduled at the Ties Building in St. Paul. At this summit, you will join other parents and public education supporters from across the state in learning &8220;Does Advocacy Matter?&8221; &8220;What&8217;s Happening?&8221; &8220;What You Can Do?&8221; and How Not To Reinvent the Wheel.&8221;

The time is now, not tomorrow,

to be engaged, be committed and make the difference you feel is right. For information about the Parent Leadership Conference you can contact the sponsors: Parents United, Minnesota PTA, Schools for Equity in Education, Association of Metropolitan School Districts, Minnesota Rural Education Association or register online at bill@lelandrealty.com. Public education needs your input and support; we need your help to return the focus of public education to its place of priority and change it for the better. See you at the summit.

Bill Leland is a member of the Albert Lea school board.