We would prefer that students in the earliest grades have the benefits of a smaller class taught by a qualified teacher, and we are striving to make this happen.

God created heavens and the earth ... but my personal belief has no bearing on what should be taught in the schools.

This would change high school as we know it. It lets students have more choice. It lets them play to their strengths.

[As commissioner, Yecke was a big supporter of the No Child Left Behind law, which requires schools to test students every year and slaps penalties on schools where students don't meet test score goals.] Right now, I don't see any resistance [to No Child Left Behind], ... I see acceptance. Implementation is taking place. Perhaps [educators] had once seen it as threatening, but once everything was in place, they found they could rise to the challenge.

Sad to say, with few exceptions, the circling vultures are left-leaning women.

But I'd seen what children could do in Virginia, ... and I had full confidence that Minnesota educators could add rigor here, too.