Mar 30, 2023 |
The Minnesota Legislature’s education budget bills call for big increases to general funding formulas, plus dedicated money for school support staff, literacy initiatives, after-school grants and building a more diverse teacher workforce.
In budget targets announced last week, top lawmakers said they intend to spend $2.21 billion more on education in the next biennium than in the current one.
“We’ve had over 20 years of underinvestment in our schools. While we cannot change that overnight, or even in one biennium, this is an incredible start,” Rep. Cheryl Youakim, DFL-Hopkins, the house education finance chair, said Wednesday.
Differences on spending, policy
While the majority DFL’s leaders in the House and Senate education committees mostly agree on priorities, their spending bills contain significant differences on spending and policy.
The Senate bill unveiled this week would increase per-student state aid by 4 percent and 5 percent in the next two years, at a cost of $913 million. The House bill follows Gov. Tim Walz’s proposal of 4 percent and 2 percent increases.
However, the House bill would tie future formula increases to inflation while the Senate would not. School district leaders have long sought those built-in increases, saying they’d make it easier to plan.
In addition to the formula hikes, both chambers want to send huge amounts of money to schools based on how much they spend on English language learners and special-education students. School leaders say they don’t get enough state and federal revenue for those students, so they have to divert funds intended for everyone else.
The House bill would reduce by half the so-called special-education “cross-subsidy” with $730 million in new biennial funding. The Senate would spend $653 million on the same effort, cutting the cross-subsidy by 40 percent, but their bill would keep chipping away at the funding gap with another $1.08 billion in fiscal years 2026-27.
Both bills would eventually eliminate the English learner cross-subsidy. The House wants to spend $82 million on it this biennium and $272 million the next, while the Senate would spend $143 million and $253 million.
“This is a grand slam,” St. Paul Public Schools lobbyist Jim Grathwol told Senate education finance committee members Wednesday. “These are stunning investments.”
Counselors, teacher diversity
There’s also plenty of money for schools to hire – or retain if they’re being paid with expiring federal grants – more counselors, social workers, school psychologists and nurses. The House bill calls for $75 million over the biennium for these support staff and the Senate $49 million, with those amounts doubling in 2026-27 in both cases.
The House is looking to spend $94 million, and the Senate $52 million, on “Grow Your Own” grants for partnering school districts and teacher-preparation programs to get more people licensed to teach. These grants sometimes are geared toward people of color, but the House ($10 million) and Senate ($9 million) bills also have separate line items for teacher-of-color grants.
“We know that students learn better when they see themselves in the adults they work with every day,” Education Commissioner Willie Jett said.
Pre-school, literacy
Without legislative action, 4,000 state-funded voluntary preschool seats that date to the Mark Dayton administration are set to expire. The House bill would spend $85 million next biennium and $155 million after that to expand the program to 9,200 seats. The Senate bill would spend $40 million just to maintain the 4,000 seats but would also spend $271 million expanding early-learner scholarships for low-income families.
Ericca Maas of Think Small, which advocates for early childhood programming, said that even with those scholarships, only one-third to one-half of the 31,000 low-income youngsters who need quality child care would get it.
Both chambers are intent on ensuring schools are using proven practices, such as phonics, for teaching kids to read and write. The bills – $73 million in the House and $41 million in the Senate – would invest in teacher training and curricular materials and require schools to screen for reading problems in kindergarten.
Other grants
Other proposed spending areas include:
- After-school program grants (House $25 million, Senate $40 million);
- Grants for full-service community schools, which make school buildings one-stop shops for a range of services that support young families (House $27 million, Senate $15 million)
- Grants to revitalize American Indian languages ($15 million both chambers)
- Paid orientation for paraprofessionals (House $16 million, Senate $14 million but doubling the following biennium)
- Stocking schools with menstrual products (about $3.5 million both chambers).
There are some areas where the two chambers disagree.
The Senate wants $59 million in dedicated state aid for school libraries for the first time, while the House has nothing for that. The Senate also wants $20 million for Head Start and $8 million for grants that take aim at achievement gaps.
Meanwhile, the House wants $50 million to buy time for special-education teachers to complete due-process paperwork, plus another $10 million in transportation money for sparsely populated districts and $2 million in grants for gender-neutral bathrooms.
Policy changes
Besides all the spending, several new education policies are being considered in the House bill and in a separate Senate education policy bill. They include:
- Requiring high schools to offer a course in ethnic studies.
- Explicitly making “class sizes, student testing, and student-to-personnel ratios” subject to collective bargaining by teachers unions.
- Banning schools from using American Indian tribes as mascots.
- Letting school boards renew existing referenda without going to voters.
- Prohibiting schools from suspending or expelling students before the fourth grade unless there’s an ongoing safety concern.
- Stopping schools from punishing students by withholding recess.
Both the House and Senate education finance committees plan to meet Thursday morning to consider amendments to their bills before legislative leaders from both chambers work toward a compromise.
Clarification: This article has been updated to clarify that the Senate is considering new education policies in a separate bill
Feb 21, 2023 |
The executive director of Building Assets, Reducing Risks and supporters visited the Minnesota State Capitol Feb. 15 to testify during the House Education Finance Committee with Chair Cheryl Youakim (DFL-Hopkins) in support of HF 806, a bipartisan bill requesting funding that would allow 30 additional Minnesota schools to implement the BARR system.
Angela Jerabek, the executive director of the educational organization, began working as grant director for the St. Louis Park School District in 2000, according to LinkedIn. Previously, she worked as a St. Louis Park High School counselor beginning in 1993. She helped implement the system designed to provide a team approach to ensuring students do not slip through the cracks when reaching the high school level. She helped found the BARR Center, spreading the system to more than 200 schools. She has written articles for national publications, and presented at a White House “Evidence in Education Roundtable” in 2016. Rob Metz, former St. Louis Park High School principal, serves as BARR’s deputy director. Other leaders with ties to the St. Louis Park School District include Carrie Jennissen, associated director of special projects for BARR and former career and college readiness employee for the district, and Brad Brubaker, director of secondary schools for the center and a former social studies teacher and track and field coach for the district. Bob Laney, who helped implement the BARR system with Jarabek when Laney worked as St. Louis Park High School principal, is a trainer, presenter and mentor for the organization.
Jerabek joined Lake Elmo Elementary Principal Stephen Gorde and Instructional Coach Lisa Boland Blake at the hearing.
As described by the organization, “BARR is a strengths-based educational model that provides schools with a comprehensive approach to meeting the academic, social, and emotional needs of all students through the power of data and relationships.”
Youakim said at the hearing, “Over the last month, we’ve heard a lot directly from our schools about the challenges they’re facing meeting students’ needs, from academic to mental health. We’ve heard from teachers asking for support and training to and from administrators who want more tools to do the work they have to do for their students.”
Youakim said state leaders need to provide educators and students in the state with evidence-based support.
“From the testimony we’ve heard today from our schools that have used this program, the BARR system is successfully addressing these challenges in Minnesota schools,” Youakim said in summarizing comments at the hearing. “With House File 806 we have an opportunity to act now and bring this evidence-based system to additional Minnesota schools. This program is scalable – my favorite word – sustainable, and cost-effective.”
For more information about the organization, visit barrcenter.org.
Copyright © 2023 at Sun Newspapers/ APG Media of East Central Minnesota. Digital dissemination of this content without prior written consent is a violation of federal law and may be subject to legal action.
Feb 21, 2023 |
K-12 schools in Minnesota are funded by a combination of state aid and local property taxes. Some school districts operate in communities that have a low tax base, though, making it difficult to provide comparable services to those available in communities with a high tax base.
In an acknowledgement of the potential education inequities this could cause, the state provides “equalization aid” for school districts to lessen the local taxpayer burden of certain property tax levies.
However, the rates of aid have remained unchanged for many years. Some lawmakers believe now is the time for the state to increase equalization aid under various circumstances.
On Tuesday, the House Education Finance Committee approved three bills pertaining to this issue — HF879 (as amended [https://www.house.mn.gov/comm/docs/eEls-j2Xq0eCxjkFwmBr9Q.pdf]), HF1271, and HF1396. All three are now heading to the House Taxes Committee.
“Equalization helps level the playing field for the property-poor districts,” said Rep. Cheryl Youakim (DFL-Hopkins). By looking at the value of taxable property within a school district’s boundaries, calculations are made to provide state aid, helping some districts shoulder the costs of particular school levies.
Youakim sponsors HF879, dealing with equalization aid in regard to local optional revenue, a subsection of each district’s general education revenue. She said local optional revenue rates have remained frozen since 2013, even as inflation has soared. Her bill would both simplify the formula calculation for determining state aid and substantially increase the assistance to local districts.
In fiscal year 2025, districts would receive $840 per pupil unit as a starting point and would then be equalized at $880,000 per pupil unit. In subsequent years, the former number would automatically increase in conjunction with any basic formula increases.
Ann-Marie Foucault, superintendent of St. Michael-Albertville schools, noted her district has faced significant budgetary shortfalls in recent years as state funding has not kept pace with inflation. Her district could net another $845,000 in state aid and hire another 11 teachers if this bill passes.
Youakim also sponsors HF1271, which would increase equalization aid for the operating referendum program. This program empowers local districts to gain voter approval for increasing their general fund revenue beyond the limits set in state statute. Youakim’s proposal would increase the equalization factor to 150% of the statewide referendum market value per pupil unit for one tier of this program.
She argues this is necessary because statewide referendum market value has skyrocketed 300% since the equalization factor was first established nearly 30 years ago. The change would take effect in fiscal year 2025 and is estimated to reduce local property tax levies used to raise this revenue by nearly $90 million per year.
The last bill in the package is HF1396, sponsored by Rep. Amanda Hemmingsen-Jaeger (DFL-Woodbury). It would increase access to, and raise payouts from, the debt service equalization program, which assists low property wealth school districts in paying off debt incurred via new construction building bonds. Her proposal is expected to lower local property taxes by about $41 million per year beginning with fiscal year 2025.
The trifecta of bills drew bipartisan support, notably from Rep. Nolan West (R-Blaine).
“This benefits people across the state, and I appreciate [how these bills would take] a more statewide approach,” he said.
Jan 26, 2023 |
Sen. Ron Latz (DFL-St. Louis Park) is prominently the chair of the Senate Judiciary and Public Safety Committee while Rep. Cheryl Youakim (DFL-Hopkins) is the chair of the House Education Finance Committee.
Latz is working with Zaynab M. Mohamed (DFL-Minneapolis) on legislation that would increase penalties for a broader range of crimes when they are motivated by bias.
“It would enhance training for police officers and the community to recognize when crimes are motivated by bias, which are particularly pernicious beyond the individual victim,” Latz said. “They’re really crimes against whole communities that are represented by the particular cultural, religious or gender affiliation of the victim.”
The state already has penalty enhancements for hate crimes involving assault, but the legislation would expand the list of applicable crimes.
Latz is continuing to carry gun legislation that would expand criminal background checks when firearms are acquired and would enable courts to confiscate firearms “from people who are exhibiting signs of dangerousness to themselves or others,” he said.
Asked whether he expected the legislation to pass this year, Latz responded, “It’s never been an easy lift. I don’t expect it to be an easy lift now, but we will do everything we can to pass both of them.”
DFLers will likely also consider approving laws requiring firearms to be stored with gun locks and requiring gun owners to report firearm thefts, which Latz said could help prevent incidents in which young people obtain their parents’ guns, for example.
Latz also anticipates reviewing marijuana legislation on the judiciary committee and as a member of the Senate Commerce and Consumer Protection Committee. He is not working directly as an advocate for the bill to more broadly legalize cannabis, but he said he does support it. On the question of whether local governments should be able to prevent the sale of products in their communities, Latz said he believed the law should be uniform statewide. He made an analogy to the Clean Indoor Air Act, which prevents smoking cigarettes or vaping inside bars and restaurants statewide, without the ability for a local government to opt-out.
While DFLers can act without Republican support on most legislation this year, the parties would have to work together if they approve a bonding bill to provide funds for local and state projects. A borrowing bill would require three-fifths of legislators in each chamber to support it.
“I’m hopeful, but we’re going to have to find a way to get a strong bipartisan consensus,” Latz said.
While many interests are vying for state funding this year given a forecast for a state surplus of $17.6 billion, Latz cautioned that $11.6 billion of that is one-time money that could not be used for ongoing expenses. Additionally, he said inflation has an impact of about $5.5 billion to maintain current levels of service.
“I’m trying to temper expectations,” Latz declared. “We don’t have gobs and gobs of money to spend.”
Some lawmakers hope to change the forecast process so that it factors in inflation along with expected increases in revenues. Politicians from both parties supported the current forecasting method that does not include inflation when considering expenses.
“It was never a good fiscal or budgeting approach, and we’ve regretted it ever since because everyone has these expectations and everyone gets their hopes dashed,” Latz said. “It’s kind of a mess.”
Meanwhile, Youakim said she is laser-focused on education finance, which makes up 40% of the state’s budget.
She said she is working with the education finance teams of the House, Senate and governor’s office “to make sure we get our students what they need to learn and have an environment where they feel safe.”
Topics include increasing state funding for special education and English language learner programs so that they are not a strain on local school district budgets. Additionally, legislators are considering funding school breakfasts and lunches for all students. Federal funds helped provide meals at no cost to students during much of the pandemic. However, the system in which some students pay full price while others from lower-income households pay a reduced price or no cost has returned. Advocates of free meals for all say it would eliminate a stigma associated with free and reduced-price lunches for some students. The bill cleared the House Education Policy Committee, which Youakim also serves on, before heading to her education finance committee.
Legislators are also considering more funding for mental health support staff in schools through additional counselors, social workers and school nurses.
Youakim is seeking to provide funding to train paraprofessionals and education support professionals in schools. Districts would control the training, which could focus on responding to the cultural, social, emotional and medical needs of students. Youakim has worked as a paraprofessional on and off since 2014 and currently works as a substitute paraprofessional in St. Louis Park and Hopkins.
Discussions on the increase for the formula for state aid overall for school districts are underway. One bill would index the state support for school districts to inflation and would increase the amount by 5% in the next two-year state budgeting period. The bill would add another 5% to the formula in the following two-year period.
However, Youakim said, “These are all proposals that are going to have to work through the committee process.”
She is supporting a grant request from Building Assets – Reducing Risks, an organization with ties to St. Louis Park High School that focuses on ensuring teachers build relationships with students.
In another request relevant to constituents, Youakim and Latz are supporting changes to special rules for a Hopkins tax-increment financing district that would give the city more flexibility when it provides city assistance to building projects. The bill would allow the city to spend more money on housing and blight correction in areas outside the official TIF district, among other changes.
Youakim is also supporting a bill that would allow any Minnesotan to file state income taxes for free. Programs the Minnesota Department of Revenue lists online offer free electronic filing for taxpayers with an adjusted gross income of up to $41,000, a cap that increases to $73,000 or less for active-duty military members.
Copyright © 2023 at Sun Newspapers/ APG Media of East Central Minnesota. Digital dissemination of this content without prior written consent is a violation of federal law and may be subject to legal action.
Jan 1, 2023 |
Hutchinson Leader, 1 January, 2023
The challenge of buying a used vehicle might involve fewer unknowns thanks to one of several new laws passed during the Minnesota Legislature’s 2022 session, which took effect Jan. 1.
The law, sponsored by state Rep. Cheryl Youakim, DFL-Hopkins, and Sen. John Jasinski, R-Faribault, will help buyers seeking older, less expensive, vehicles will find out when the vehicle they’re considering has previously been significantly damaged or deemed to be totaled.
The law updates the state’s salvage title regulations by creating a “prior salvage” brand. It aims to solve an issue of less expensive vehicles holding a clean Minnesota title, despite incurring damage that costs more than 80% of its value or causes an insurance company to declare the vehicle a total loss. The requirements for a “salvage” brand on high-value or late-model cars — those costing $9,000 or more or are five years or newer — remain the same.
Based on recommendations developed by a Salvage Title Task Force, the law broadens disclosure requirements to include all brands on the title, requires written notice from dealers that must be signed by the purchaser, and clarifies that oral disclosure is not required for online sales.
In-state and out-of-state vehicles will be treated consistently. Motorcycles as well as heavier commercial vehicles are now subject to the same title branding and disclosure requirements as other types of vehicles.
The law also makes clarifying changes for readability of the statutes and to conform to Department of Public Safety titling and branding practices.
Postnatal care coverage required
One of the new laws taking effect Jan. 1 was actually passed in 2021, and made changes to private and public health coverage. Among its provisions, health plans will be required to cover:
a comprehensive postnatal visit with a health care provider not more than three weeks from the date of delivery; any postnatal visits recommended by a health care provider between three and 11 weeks from the date of delivery; and a comprehensive postnatal visit with a health care provider 12 weeks from the date of delivery.
The law was carried by Rep. Zack Stephenson (DFL-Coon Rapids) and Sen. Gary Dahms (R-Redwood Falls).
Consumers’ financial interest comes first
Another new law updates best interest standards in annuity sales to help protect consumers, especially older adults. Insurers can not put their financial interests ahead of the consumer.
According to the new law, when recommending an annuity, insurance agents should follow revised National Association of Insurance Commissioners standards, satisfying four conduct obligations: care, disclosure, conflict of interest and documentation. Under the law:
producers have a care obligation to know their customer and have a reasonable basis for their recommendation; producers have an obligation to disclose their licensing and how they will be compensated for the sale. For example, if they will be paid by commission or an asset management fee; producers must avoid and disclose conflict of interest, including sales incentives such as quotas, bonuses, or limited time contests; and producers have an obligation to document the basis of their recommendations.
Franchise renewal date changed
A new law, effective to initial registrations filed on or after Jan. 1, 2023, changes the due date for franchise renewals.
The deadline to renew a business registration will be the anniversary of the initial registration instead of 120 days after the end of the fiscal year.
Ericca Maas, director of policy and advocacy for Think Small, which administers the scholarships in Hennepin and Ramsey counties, said this week the group will continue to promote a middle-income expansion, even with legislators preaching austerity.
“That tension is how the system works,” she said.
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