Minnesota Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan is leaning on her experience as a former school board official to buoy her Senate bid in a contested primary, but her record and the district’s turmoil under her tenure paint a different picture.
A review of public records and archived news reports spanning back more than two decades to when she was first elected to the Minneapolis School Board in 2005 reveal Flanagan voted for budget cuts, teacher layoffs, and school closures in response to deficits and shrinking enrollments while also supporting costly administrative expenses, such as a new $37 million district headquarters.
She missed roughly 15% of votes during her time on the board that spanned from 2005 through early 2009 and again briefly in 2010, a period in which Minneapolis Public Schools also struggled to meet health and academic goals, manage administrative scandals, and face allegations it was “failing” poor and minority students…