Legislative Update: Education
Last session, we had an opportunity to give schools the resources to improve education for students across the state. Unfortunately, the House and Senate Majorities instead blocked out the voice of the minority, along with the voices of thousands of superintendents, principals, teachers, parents, and more that expressed serious concerns about the DFL's education budget bill.?
The education bill that was signed into law included 65 new mandates on schools, many of which were unfunded. Instead, it funds 50 new Minnesota Department of Education employees and hands over $51 million to unaccountable nonprofits. It removes grade level reading proficiency requirements by 3rd grade and severely underfunds important initiatives like access to mental health care and improving literacy rates for every child in Minnesota.
Because House and Senate Democrats would not listen to the voices of those who expressed concerns about their bill, House Republicans created our own plan in collaboration with educators, parents, and our local communities. As a result, we put forward a strong plan that puts students first, strengthens our education system, and empowers local schools and their educators.
Our plan would have given $1.1 billion directly to school districts and would remove mandates that will cause financial harm to local school districts. Our goal was to empower local districts to innovate and create plans based on their own students, instead of mandating a top-down, one-size-fits-nobody plan like the House and Senate majorities passed.
In our area, the St. Cloud school district would have received an additional $514 per student in comparison to the DFL?s plan.?These additional dollars would allow schools to decide where they could do the most good ? whether it be for teachers, materials, paraprofessionals, student mental health care, school safety, or other improvements.
We all want students to succeed and schools to be strong, but the legislative majority and minority proved that we have very different perspectives on how to make that happen. I hope that during next year's legislative session, we will be able to roll back these unfunded mandates and truly empower our local schools to make decisions based on their specific students and teachers.
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