Opportunity Gap

A coalition of organizations including MREA, SEE and SEIU are pushing the legislature to take on school property tax reform. A number of school property tax issues are emerging and will be reviewed this coming week. The issues include putting Seasonal & Recreational property taxes back into school operating referenda (SF 386), increasing operating referenda and debt service equalization. Education … Read More

The Governor’s E-12 budget has been reviewed in the House and Senate. Testimony has been delivered by many organizations including MREA. Most of the organizational testimony was at the 10,000 foot level giving kudos to the Governor’s plan, but requesting additional funds to help with the first fiscal year’s low increase of 1%. MREA offered this  funding fact sheet to the … Read More

The current budget forecast shows a projected deficit of $1.1 billion for the next two fiscal years. The February forecast is due on the Feb. 28 and recent legislative action should improve the bottom line for the next two years by a slight amount. The legislature took quick action on adopting a federal health care reform option to enroll poor Minnesotans … Read More

The House Education Finance committee took up a handful of bills (HF 1, 53, 134, 235) last Tuesday dealing with the school aid payment and property tax recognition shifts. Several legislators in the House on both sides of the aisle are advocating repaying the school aid payment schedule back to the 90/10 schedule before any new money goes to education … Read More

Gov. Dayton’s revenue plan has come under much scrutiny since being unveiled, particularly by the business community. The “business to business” sales tax expansion is causing the most heartburn among the business community. Several House DFLers have expressed opposition to that portion of the plan. If that portion of his plan falls by the way side the question is what … Read More

The  House Education Finance committee on Tuesday morning will review legislation related to the school payment shift.  HF 1 would mandate the school payment schedule to 90/10 by the start of the next fiscal year which begins July 1, 2013.  The current payment schedule is 82.5/17.5, therefore at a cost of $70 million/point HF 1 costs about $525 million. The … Read More

Last Wednesday, Governor Dayton delivered his state of the state address to the legislature. His budget proposal and priorities encompassed the 45-minute speech. Here are some key topics he addressed: Tax Cuts: He criticized the tax cuts of the late 1990’s as they didn’t grow the jobs promised and instead saddled the state with large deficits. He said real solutions … Read More