HOPKINS, Minn. — Gov. Tim Walz began a statewide tour at a Hopkins elementary school Friday to highlight investments set to expand pre-K access by more than 9,000 seats across Minnesota.
This past legislative session, state representatives Laurie Pryor (DFL, D-49A) and Cheryl Youakim (DFL, D-46B) helped secure funding to make permanent 4,000 pre-K spots that would've otherwise expired next year. Over the next two years, 5,000 more spots will be added.
The governor stopped by Eisenhower Elementary to visit a pre-K classroom and discuss the investment with educators and media. He says it ensures young kids access to high-quality early childhood education while saving their families thousands of dollars on childcare.
"For Minnesota taxpayers, there was a lot over the summer and into the fall excitement about what got done. Now I think comes seeing what these investments mean," Walz said. "That healthy start that these kids are getting, they're coming in in the morning, they're having their breakfast. They're having their free lunch. They're learning. They're getting socialized into that environment … and that's what the investment means is when they get to the kindergarten program they're able to excel."
Walz also said research shows for every dollar invested in pre-K kids, the state gets back $12 over their lifetime for each student.
Another investment was announced Friday morning - this one coming from the White House. Minnesota was chosen as one of seven regional clean hydrogen hubs. The $7 billion federal program is a key component of President Joe Biden's agenda to slow climate change.
Walz mentioned this during his remarks.
"[The hub] will come with $1 billion of investment from DOE and this morning, Xcel Energy indicated they will invest $2 billion into this, moving us towards our 2040 goal," he said. "Rep. Pryor was exactly right. She said, 'We've got to get busy training the workforce for that.' That's 3,000 construction jobs and that's about 1,000 permanent jobs dealing in this and that's exactly the connection to these early [learning] programs - that we get better success in schools."
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