The House Education Finance committee reviewed two bills last week that would assist schools in paying for building maintenance. HF 825 was amended so that the Safe Schools levy could be used to pay for upgrades needed to make buildings more secure. Unfortunately, the bill does not raise the amount that can be levied which currently is $30 per pupil. … Read More
Governor’s Budget Adjustments and Legislative Budget Targets
MREA reported last week that Governor Dayton was backing away from two major components of his tax reform and budget plan. The business-to-business sales tax expansion is dead unless the Senate DFL chooses to pick it up. House DFL leaders had backed away from it from the start. The Governor’s homeowner rebate is dead as well. The combined effect nets … Read More
Special Education Funding Formula Reform
A major recommendation of the Education Finance Working Group was Special Education Funding Reform. The working group made four recommendations: Significantly increase special education aid to reduce cross subsidies Replace the current expenditure reimbursement formula with a new formula based partly on school district enrollment and number of students in high-cost, low-incidence special education programs Improve the special education excess cost … Read More
Special Education Increasingly the Focus
By Vernae Hasbargen, MREA Lobbyist When the Legislative Auditor presented a report on the increasing cost of special education to a joint meeting of the Senate and House K-12 Committees, he found a very attentive audience. “It’s important that this report gather momentum and not dust,” Senator Wiger concluded. This is the first report by the Legislative Auditor since 1997 … Read More
Focus Shifts from Student Equity to Taxpayer Fairness
By Vernae Hasbargen, MREA Lobbyist Education groups have lobbied for more revenue with mixed success by focusing on the funding gap between students. This year they have changed their tune and framed their argument with the taxpayer in mind. Fairness Depends on Equalizing Factors When Sen. Hoffman presented his bill to increase levy equalization, his most convincing argument was comparing … Read More
Governor Changes Budget Course
Last Friday Governor Dayton announced he would no longer push a plan to expand the state’s sales tax to business services which raised $2 billion for his budget plan. The proposal that came to be known as “B2B” or the business-to-business sales tax faced found little to no support in the House of Representatives. The Senate remained more silent on … Read More
EAR Gains Bi-Partisan Support
Sen. Rod Skoe continued his efforts to get all school districts at least $300/pupil on local property taxes. SF 576, also known as Education Advancement Revenue (EAR) was reviewed again in the Senate Tax committee last week. This time around the bill took on some amendments aimed at gaining bi-partisan support. The first amendment was on the EAR levy base … Read More
E-12 Budget Target Pressure
MREA asked members last week to contact their legislators and ask them to support a larger budget target for education than Governor Dayton had proposed in January. In the days to come after Governor Dayton announces his budget changes, DFL leaders in the House will unveil their budget targets for each major spending category (education, health & human services, transportation, … Read More
MREA Releases Map on Special Ed Net Cross Subsidy
MREA released a map today on the special education net cross subsidy value per WADM in 2010. The map aimed to identify any patterns to higher special education costs per pupil. A thumbnail is provided below. Click here to view the interactive map. The 119 higher special education cross subsidies (above $525 per WADM) are in the Twin Cities urban … Read More
Two Bills Aimed to Help Districts at the Bottom of the Funding Gap
By Vernae Hasbargen, MREA Lobbyist In the Senate it’s called EAR (Education Advancement Revenue SF 576) and it could have a dramatic impact on the state’s lowest funded students in districts where citizens have refused to pass an operating levy. Authored by the Senate’s new Tax Chair Rod Skoe of Clearbrook, EAR adds $300 to the formula for districts without … Read More