Rep. John Persell (DFL-Bemidji) presented a bill last week to cover the cost of pupil transportation for geographically large districts. Transportation sparsity revenue provides additional revenue to school districts based on indexes formed by measuring each districts’ geographic sparsity (pupils per square mile) calculated a few different ways and totals about $64 million per year. This bill creates two adjustment … Read More
Funding Transfers of Early Learning and School Readiness
When Rep. Mike Sundin (DFL-Duluth) presented a bill that would authorize the Barnum school district to transfer money between its ECFE reserved account and its school readiness reserved account, he shared that a statewide bill will follow in the next week or two. MREA has been strongly advocating for these types of bills this session. A special law passed in 2013 … Read More
Concurrent Enrollment Bill Receives Support
A bill that would expand funding for concurrent enrollment and College in the Schools received support in the House and Senate this week. It was presented in House Education Innovation Policy Committee and the Senate E12 Committee. The bill requires participation and expenditure information for career and technical education courses offered as a concurrent enrollment course. It allows 9th and 10th … Read More
Ag2School Maps
MREA developed a series of maps that illustrate the challenges behind the Facility Fallout and the Ag2School Solution. Learn more about Ag2School. This maps are included in this visual slide presentation. View slide handout. View the interactive maps ANTC/APU Increased equalization is not distributed equally across the state. Ag Land Values 20% of districts have at least 75% of ANTC wealth in … Read More
Many Education Bills in the Air
MREA has been especially busy this year advocating on behalf of Greater Minnesota schools. There are a series of bills in the air. Here’s a rundown of what they are by key issue and where they stand at the Capitol as of now. Each includes the bill authors and where possible, links to their text and status at the legislature. … Read More
Compensatory Revenue Flexibility Bills Presented
Both the House and Senate Education Committees heard bills that would give districts more flexibility in allocating their compensatory revenue accounts. The House Education Finance Committee heard two bills on Tuesday. HF567 is sponsored by Rep. Anna Wills (R-Apple Valley) and HF1222 is sponsored by Jerry Hertaus (R-Greenfield). Compensatory revenue is the second largest component of general education revenue after the basic … Read More
MREA to Testify on Concurrent Enrollment Bills
Bills have been presented in the House and Senate to improve concurrent enrollment opportunities in Minnesota. The House bill, sponsored by Rep. Jim Davnie (D-Minneapolis), will be heard Tuesday in the House Education Policy Committee. Princeton Superintendent Julia Espe and several Princeton students will testify in support of the bill. A companion bill also has been presented in the Senate by Sen. … Read More
Bill to Improve IEP Process for Special Education
Key legislation has been presented to repeal a law that requires the Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) to contract for a single vendor for the IEP (Individualized Education Plan). HF 804 and SF 740 would instead require schools districts to contract with vendors for seamless transference of records. View issue brief. Currently 85 percent of school districts in Minnesota use the same system … Read More
Federal Student Success Bill Prepares for Vote
National debate on the Student Success Act is drawing to a close and Congress is hearing a large amount from grassroots groups, with a loud opposition to HR5. AASA told MREA on Friday that the overall vote is close, and now is the time to contact your Representative and urge them to support HR5. Track this bill. This bill supports … Read More
March Madness Ignites with $1.9 Billion Surplus
Minnesotans received positive news about their state budget on Friday from the February budget forecast. Last December the state projected a surplus for the next two years (fiscal years 16-17) of $1.04 billion. The updated forecast now estimates a surplus of $1.87 million. The $832 million in projected growth is largely due to a expected increases in income and sales tax … Read More