Big Business as a Policy Innovator in State School Reform: A Minnesota Case Study

Abstract

Case study findings on the 1985 session of the Minnesota Legislature, particularly the “open enrollment” controversy, are used to analyze the Minnesota Business Partnership as a policy innovator in state school reform. This role is examined in relation to three processes: agenda setting, alternative formulation, and authoritative enactment. Pluralist involvement, not elite dominance, characterized Partnership efforts, with its chief impact being on agenda setting by the Governor’s office. Despite impressive power resources, Partnership influence was modest, a result partly of issue, arena, and organizational constraints. More fundamentally, Partnership influence was mediated through elected officials, contested by established subsystem interests, and conditioned by public acceptability. Increasingly, the Partnership has adapted to the demands of incremental politics in seeking policy innovation in Minnesota K-12 education.