Opportunity Gap

MREA is the only advocacy organization for rural Minnesota that puts children first, but it is one of many educational advocacy groups in St. Paul. Some have been around a long time, while others are just emerging. MREA is launching a series of articles to help members better understand the groups working on educational issues in the state. The purpose … Read More

The Education Finance Work Group continues to gather and review information needed to draft an effective model for the state. At the July 31 meeting, the group heard two key reports from Tom Melcher and the Integration Task Force. Susan Von Mosch, Assistant Commissioner for Tax Policy, also spoke on the recent changes in homestead benefits. This discovery phase has … Read More

The Task Force on the Prevention of School Bullying completed its work this month and released a full report on its findings and recommendations on Wednesday. Governor Mark Dayton established the task force in February. Since then, task force members considered written and public comments from students, parents, and citizens as well as professionals in relevant fields throughout the state … Read More

Education funding in Minnesota has fallen 17 percent in the past 17 years, according to Price of Government data from the Minnesota Office of Management and Budget. The analysis of data of education funding as a percentage of total personal income shows a decline of 0.84% from FY’95 to FY’13, worth $2.1 billion. In other words, if Minnesota today was … Read More

Governor Mark Dayton has made tax reform a priority. Revenue Commissioner Myron Franz had made over 100 presentations across the state to generate interest. He has been speaking on how tax reform affects general education funding and future formulas. See what the Revenue Commissioner is saying.

Jerry Ness, superintendent of Fergus Falls Public Schools, Chris Mills, superintendent of Stephen/Argyle Central, and Earl Athman, business manager of the Pierz School District, are MREA members serving on the Minnesota Department of Education’s Education Finance Working Group. They recently provided an update on the progress for MREA. The group reconvened on June 25. It evaluated the progress legislative session … Read More

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Filing for Minnesota’s 201 state House and Senate seats closed on June 5. All but four of the seats have candidates from at least two major political parties. Incumbents without challengers include: Terry Morrow (House DFL) Joe Hoppe (House GOP) Tony Cornish (House GOP) Kathy Sheran (Senate DFL) When the retirement dust finally settled, a total of 46 incumbents did not file … Read More

It appears the Vikings’ stadium debate will come to a vote sometime today in the House and possibly the Senate. The House will take up the bill first and if it passes, the Senate will have a chance to vote on it. Passage of the bill is uncertain at this time as GOP leaders are upset with Governor Dayton’s veto … Read More

After passing the conference committee report on the Vikings stadium, the House adjourned sine die at 4:20am on Thursday, May 10. They were still in session day 118 given that they began their session on Wednesday the 9th and a “legislative day” is defined between the hours of 7am to 7am. The Senate came into session at 9am Thursday morning, … Read More