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Minnesota STEM ecosystem seeks state support to scale industry‑aligned K‑12 and after‑school STEM pathways
Summary
House File 18‑47 would appropriate funds to the Minnesota STEM Ecosystem to coordinate public‑private STEM learning, expand internships, educator externships and robotics programming statewide; committee testimony highlighted industry partnerships and program reach and the bill was laid over.
The committee heard House File 18‑47, a request to appropriate funds to the Minnesota STEM Ecosystem to expand cross‑sector STEM learning and workforce pathways, including internships, educator externships, robotics teams and regional lending libraries for equipment.
Emily Saeed, executive director of the Minnesota STEM Ecosystem, said Minnesota ranks highly in STEM job growth but that less than 35 percent of high school juniors were proficient in grade‑level math in 2024; she described the Ecosystem as a public‑private partnership that leverages private donations, industry equipment donations and cooperative service‑cooperative fiscal hosts to expand programming statewide.
Industry partners including Medtronic, the Minnesota State Engineering Center of Excellence, Stratasys and employers described partnerships that donated VR headsets, supported educator externships and created curriculum aligned to industry needs. Student testimony from a high‑school robotics team captain described hands‑on learning in design, 3‑D printing and exposure to industry job shadowing.
The chair laid House File 18‑47 over for further consideration in a future omnibus bill.
