In just over 30 minutes on Thursday, Governor Mark Dayton outlined some of the facts and public kudos that point to Minnesota’s economic success among other states. He called upon the legislature to act boldly on education, water quality and transportation. His education comments focused on increased early learning programming and investments. Dayton challenged those who continue to argue taxes are … Read More
School Districts Share Impact of 1&1 Funding
Responding to an MREA survey, 124 school superintendents across Greater Minnesota reported the impact of the proposed 1&1 funding for education would mean larger class sizes, fewer electives and hundreds of pink slips. The report results reveal rural Minnesota can expect 160 teachers and 80 support staff to be laid off or not replaced and a total of $17.4 million in … Read More
Federal Every Child Achieves Act Introduced
Senators Lamar Alexander and Patty Murray last week introduced the Every Child Achieves Act, the Senate HELP Committee’s bipartisan, comprehensive proposal to reauthorize ESEA. “In a nutshell, this bill is good. It takes the pendulum of federal overreach and prescription and swings it to state and local control,” said Noelle Ellerson of NREAC. “It reels back the federal hand print in … Read More
Senate Presents Bill on Indian Education
The Senate E-12 Finance Committee on Thursday heard and laid over SF2027 sponsored by Sen. Tom Saxhaug (DFL-Grand Rapids) that would expand funding to more schools for Indian Ed programming. The bill mirrors the Governor’s supplemental budget with additional state funding for several programs that support public schools districts with 20 or more American Indian students and each of the state’s … Read More
What Will 1&1 Mean for Your Students?
MREA prefers mix of formula, targeted funding for facilities and School Districts without QComp to address the TDE requirements, and tax base equalization for Rural Education. The reality is that 1 percent and 1 percent, commonly referred to as 1&1, is inadequate. If Minnesota elected leaders invested half the $1.9 billion surplus for education, they could address facilities, TDE, move towards … Read More
Legislature Returns to Take on Budget
The Minnesota Legislature reconvenes at noon on Tuesday, April 7. Budget committees will continue reviewing individual budget requests this week as legislators and interest groups make their last minute attempts to find their way into an omnibus spending bill. The next phase of the session is for omnibus spending bills to roll out of their respective committees. Omnibus Budget Bills … Read More
ECFE Fund Transfers Permitted
Many rural school districts are running up balances in Early Childhood Family Education (ECFE) budgets and deficits in School Readiness budgets. For this fiscal year only, districts in this situation can request the Minnesota Commissioner of Education to approve the transfer of funds from ECFE to School Readiness. Because both ECFE and School Readiness funds are “within” the Community Service Fund (Fund 4), these … Read More
Setting the Education Budget Target
With the second bill deadline behind them, Minnesota legislators left St. Paul on Friday for their traditional spring break. This is a time for legislators to get back to their districts and get a reality check on what they’ve been working on. We hope that school leaders will take some time to reach out to their legislators to talk about … Read More
Governor Dayton: A Legacy of Early Learning
If there was a remaining doubt in your mind about the Governor’s seriousness toward expanding universal four-year old preschool, check out his news release from Friday. It appears Governor Dayton has decided his legacy won’t just be all-day kindergarten but a wholesale expansion four-year-old preschool with an aim of making it a universal program in a few short years. Questions … Read More
Omnibus Education Policy Bills Advance
The Senate E12 Committee dug the Senate’s omnibus education bill, SF1495, last week. Along with several other items, the bill from Chairman Wiger would ease the requirement for teachers who have not passed the required basic skills test. They would be able to obtain up to four, rather than the current two, one-year temporary teaching licenses, and the bill requires a streamlined … Read More