Legislative News from Rep. Peggy Bennett

Dear Friends,

This week, I participated in a Capitol press conference that highlighted House Republican efforts to save our schools. Despite record funding over the last two years, many schools are greatly struggling and having to cut teachers, paras, and more. The many new mandates thrust upon them by the Legislature over the last two years are sinking our schools. Without intervention, which I detail below, it’s going to be much worse next year.

GOVERNMENT NONSENSE ALERT: $10 MILLION NEEDED SO KIDS CAN TAKE ONLY MILK FROM FREE SCHOOL LUNCHES AND BREAKFASTS?

This could only happen in government…

You’ll recall that Minnesota now provides free school breakfast and lunch to every child that wants it, regardless of income level. This includes a carton of milk.

The problem is, those who just want the free carton of milk – such as those who pack their own lunch - can’t get it unless they take the entire breakfast or lunch. What we’ve heard from staff who monitor their cafeterias, repeatedly, is that kids are dumping their entire meals in the trash can just so they can take a milk.

It’s a colossal waste in both money and food. So, the common sense solution would be to allow the kid to take the milk and leave the meal for someone who wants to eat it, right?

Well, that idea is evidently far too revolutionary for the folks in the MN Department of Education, who told us in our education committee recently they will need almost $10 million every two years – and a brand-new full-time government employee – in order to create and oversee a process that will allow a child to bypass the meal line and take only a carton of milk!

This is ludicrous. Just let the kid walk up and take a milk!

REPORT FRAUD AT MNFRAUD.COM

A new, secure website for whistleblowers to confidentially report suspected fraud within Minnesota state government was introduced by House Republicans this week.

MNFraud.com is designed specifically to collect tips from individuals who have firsthand knowledge of waste, fraud, or abuse in state agencies or publicly funded programs. Information submitted through the site will be reviewed by the staff of the House Fraud Prevention and State Agency Oversight Committee. The information, including the identities of whistleblowers, is protected much as it would be on a secure-payment processing website.

Visit www.MNFraud.com if you know of waste, fraud and abuse that has occurred or is taking place within state agencies.

BILLS OF NOTE

The House public safety committee debated a bill that would create mandatory minimum sentences for those who maliciously punish a child. We need to protect children and punish adults who are violent towards them. The offender must spend at least 1 year in prison if the punishment caused substantially bodily harm to a young child, and at least 2 years if their actions result in great bodily harm.

Our labor committee heard legislation that would allocate money from the workforce development fund for apprenticeships for teachers. I believe this would be a practical, career-focused solution to the problem of teacher shortages, especially in rural or underserved areas.

The House taxes committee discussed a bill that would increase the phaseout for the child and working family tax credit. This provision would make more low to middle-class Minnesota families eligible for the tax break and provide them with needed tax relief.

LOCAL VISITORS

This week I had the pleasure of meeting with local residents who are part of the STARS Mentoring program.

Director Watsana Thiravong and a group of local STARS board members, mentors, and mentees came to the Capitol to advocate for this local youth mentoring program for Freeborn and Faribault counties. I believe mentoring for at-risk young people is very important and helps create thriving youth and adults. If you are interested in being a mentor for an area young person, please contact the STARS program locally. They have a waiting list for mentors. Thank you to this group for coming to visit me at the Capitol and for their caring work with our local youth!

MY COLUMN FOR THIS WEEK: SOS! SAVE OUR SCHOOLS!

Hundreds of schools throughout our state are in crisis. Despite receiving record amounts of funding in the last budget cycle, we are hearing from school leaders throughout the state that they are having to significantly cut teachers, staff, and programs. Next year will be even worse. A considerable number of Minnesota schools are headed for statutory operating debt (similar to bankruptcy in the business world.)

Our schools are issuing an “SOS,” and it’s serious.

Contrary to some of the prevailing “fake news” that has been circulating, this problem has not been created by recent actions of the federal government. No new cuts to state education funding have been made at the federal level, nor have I seen any list of proposed federal education cuts. The only actual cut to education I’ve seen by the feds is to the U.S. Department of Education, which I welcome. That agency has done absolutely nothing to improve student outcomes in our state or nation. Instead, it sucks up billions of dollars for bureaucrats that should be going toward the education of our children. It’s basically a funding pass-through agency and that funding can be channeled through other agencies.

Over and over in committee, school leaders have been telling us that the onslaught of new mandates foisted upon schools by our state legislature over the last two years is sinking them. Among the most expensive mandates identified by school leaders are the new Paid Family Leave program, Sick and Safe Time requirements, and the unemployment insurance mandate for hourly (school months only) workers during the summers.

I value all employees, including our amazing hourly part-year school employees like paras, bus drivers, and lunch workers. I learned firsthand how invaluable they are when I worked as a teacher. But these expensive new one-size-fits-all programs are bankrupting our schools (and small businesses too.) If we don’t make changes or modifications, there will sadly be few employees left to enjoy these expensive new programs.

Consider the new summer unemployment insurance mandate for hourly school workers. By law, our schools do not pay into the state unemployment insurance program like other seasonal employers such as road construction companies. Unemployment insurance costs come out of school districts’ pocketbooks, paid by local taxpayers.

While the state initially set up a fund to reimburse schools for these newly mandated additional unemployment costs, that fund is quickly running out and the state doesn’t have the dollars to continue these payments.

My Democrat colleagues have thus far refused to make any modifications or repeals to their expensive mandates. As a matter of fact, they propose to address the unemployment insurance mandate problem by proposing one-time additional state funding and then tell schools to charge their local property taxpayers to pay for the program ongoing. That is not acceptable to me.

One superintendent recently told our education committee, “We are having to cut teachers and paras so we can pay people not to work over the summer.” Does this even make sense?

Our state is going broke too. We are headed for a record breaking $6 billion deficit in two years, all because of the huge $18 billion spending spree the legislature went on over the last biennium, growing government by 40 percent. The state simply does not have the money to bail our schools out.

I’ll just lay this issue on the table right now: asking Minnesota taxpayers to ante up even more after being saddled with a $10 billion tax increase in the last budget is not a fair or reasonable proposal to pay for this colossal spending spree by legislators. I will not support imposing new taxes on the people of Minnesota to bail out irresponsible spending by legislators.

So, are we going to believe our school leaders or not? Or are we going to continue to ram through all of these state-directed mandates that are forcing our schools into debt?

My Republican colleagues and I are offering real solutions for schools with bills on the table that will not require money we don’t have. Among these solutions: allow schools (with school board approval) to delay implementation of some or all of the new mandates for up to three years so we can get a handle on these struggles; allow schools to temporarily transfer funds between budget accounts; find common sense efficiencies within the Minnesota Department of Education and funnel those dollars to our schools for students; and create opportunity for schools to innovate locally.

We must take the potential bankruptcy of our schools seriously. If we don’t, we may not have many schools left. Then where does that leave us?

SOS! Save Our Schools!

Have a good weekend,

Peggy