From Preston to Thief River Falls, from Virginia to Slayton, and location in between, MREA Executive Director Fred Nolan facilitated Platform Development Meetings with MREA Contract Lobbyist Sam Walseth. The conversations provided input on opportunities and challenges facing districts as MREA prepares the 2014 Legislative Platform. Nearly all participants rated the meetings as valuable or very valuable, and were satisfied … Read More
Work of Five Education Task Forces Underway
Five of the state education task forces established by the legislature last session have begin work. The appointments announced to date reveal rural Minnesota is under represented in these task forces focused on key issues in our state. The legislature called for seven task force or councils. These task forces address complicated issues which have competing interests in how the … Read More
School Facilities Financing Working Group Begins Work
The commissioner of education, as directed by the 2013 Legislature, must convene a working group to develop recommendations for reforming the financing of prekindergarten through grade 12 education facilities to create adequate, equitable, and sustainable financing of public school facilities throughout the state. The scope of the working group recommendations must include funding options for facilities projects currently financed with … Read More
Funding
The significant policy change enacted by the 2013 Legislature was to permit School Board’s Levy Authority on Referendum Market Value (RMV). Prior to 2013, school boards could levy on Adjusted Net Tax Capacity (ANTC) with Health and Safety levy, with approval from MDE, and the 40 largest school districts with Alternate Financing for facility maintenance. RMV is primarily homes, farmsteads … Read More
Accountability and World’s Best Work Force
A combination of a need to create a highly educated workforce to maintain Minnesota’s edge in economics and the political necessity to not be seen as weak on accountability with the elimination of the GRAD rule, House K-12 Education Finance Chairman Marquart authored pursued with the determination to get the World’s Best Work Force (WBW) enacted into law. Where do … Read More
MREA Uncovers Early Learning Issues
The Legislature and current administration are conceiving and enacting policies that students move along a continuum of educational growth and opportunity from early childhood through post-secondary schooling, although not necessarily four year college. In hearings and in hallways, legislators and staffers are using words like “readiness,” “systems alignment,” “workforce development,” “seamless transitions,” and “early intervention” when speaking of education. In … Read More
MREA Digs Into Early Learning Scholarships
MREA released today a map of the 169 school districts that were eligible to submit applications for Early Learning Phase II scholarships to facilitate program planning and to ensure availability of services to children during the year. This type of scholarship is designed to enhance program services and serve more children in the community. These school districts and the Four … Read More
MREA Releases Map of “Donut Hole” Districts
MREA released a map today showing where the districts are that do not qualify for Location Equity Revenue (LER) and are left in the “Donut Hole” between Small Schools Revenue (SSR) and LER. All of these 132 districts with 147,000 students are in Greater Minnesota. View the interactive map. School districts with 600-999 kids would do better financially with the … Read More
School Facilities Financing Work Identifies Inequity
By Sam Walseth, MREA Lobbyist The 2013 E-12 bill called on the Minnesota Department of Education to pull together a work group to look at current school facility financing programs. At the first meeting in late August, the work group reviewed the state of the current programs, identified inequity in funding, and outlined a series of issues to consider. Tom … Read More
Unfinished Business: Filling in the Donut Hole
By Sam Walseth, MREA Lobbyist Two “dark of night” decisions created what looks like a glaring inequity in how much money school districts get. School finance is complicated and it was made more so in 2011 with the creation of Small Schools Revenue (SSR) and in the 2013 bill with the creation of Location Equity Revenue (LER). The rational and … Read More