U.S. Education Secretary to make Minnesota stop

U.S. Education Secretary Arnie Duncan will be in Minnesota on July 16 to push President Obama's proposal to expand government spending on early childhood learning programs, according to the Associated Press.

The Star Tribune reports that Duncan is scheduled to make multiple stops on that day. The paper says he will be at Bloomington's Pond Early Childhood Family Center in the morning and meet with Minnesotans working on early education initiatives at Bloomington Kennedy High School for a town hall event later in the day.

Governor Mark Dayton will be one of the participants in town hall forum, reports the Star Tribune.

Duncan, who is hosting events across the country to promote Obama's early learning proposal, will make his third trip to Minnesota in the past three years. He visited the state in January of 2012 to talk about college readiness and spoke to the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce in 2011, according to the paper.

The AP reports that Minnesota would see a $39 million dollar allowance under the President's proposal. That would be combined with new state dollars earmarked for preschool initiatives.