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Update for May 22, 2007 — From Mary Cecconi, Executive Director
What is happening at the Capitol? We have an education bill. The legislature has adjourned. We have a bill passed by both the House and the Senate on Monday. It is up to the governor to sign it or not. This bill did what it needed to do. It paid the State’s unpaid bill from cross subsidy AND reinstated the special education inflator so that our current situation cannot be repeated. Using the dollars this way was the right, honest approach to funding our schools. This total for this bill is $794 million, roughly the same as in 2005, when schools received 4%/4% on the per pupil formula. The difference today is that the “cap gap,” which was created by repealing the special education growth inflator in 2003, reared its ugly head—and over the last two years we saw how dollars were simply being siphoned off from our general funds to pay for what the state capped. School districts that went out for levies during that time were simply trying to make up for this cross subsidy with local levies. The actions of the legislative body today have put an end to that. Legislators knew they needed to fix this problem before adding new initiatives. Both bodies had wonderful ideas and provisions that were struck because of a lack of money. This bill keeps the lights on and pays our bills, but if we want to move forward, we as a state need to decide if we are willing to back new revenue for our schools. It is interesting that this same scenario can be seen in every area of the budget. There is a wonderful article from the op ed section of Sunday's Star Tribune that speaks to this very issue. It would be impossible to speak about this bill without giving the necessary kudos to the legislators who nurtured it through the process. Chairs Greiling, Mariani, Wiger, Clark and Stumpf all deserve our thanks, as do the members of each of the committees. They have been working non-stop since the early days of January to bring us this bill. Many of these provisions were carried by freshman legislators who ran for office to help our schools. They had very difficult decisions to make, hard battles to fight and deserve a great deal of appreciation for putting our kids over politics. Please take the time to express your appreciation to them. Here’s a page with links to the committee members.
Highlights of the 2007 E-12 Education Omnibus Bill (unsigned as of May 22, 2007, 9 am)
If you are interested in how your district may fare under this bill, link to District by District Comparison at our website (second item under Updates). Three additional policy provisions that I believe have significant importance:
Priorities of Parents United in this 2007 Legislative Session Parents United believed throughout the legislative session that the backbone of any funding effort for schools HAD TO include buying down the special education cross subsidy costs. We understand that buying down the cross subsidy frees up a district’s general operating budget in order to address the other demands school districts have. It is also consistent with the attempts of P.S. Minnesota to link cost, resources and student achievement. Questions? Email Mary Cecconi Parents United for Public Schools | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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