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Roach









Hello from the State Capitol,

 

As a lawmaker who sits on the House Education Policy Committee, I have heard from school districts across the state who have said the more than 60 mandates passed into law by a Democrat-led legislature and Governor Walz are causing them significant financial problems. These districts are being forced to lay off teachers and other staff in order to avoid going into debt.

 

Considering last session Democrats spent an $18 billion surplus, raised taxes by $10 billion, and grew state government spending by almost 40%, it is truly unbelievable that school districts are struggling.

 

There are two separate plans of action to help solve this problem: Republicans would like to cut mandates in order to help fund schools. The Democrats are looking to cut funding to schools to fund their mandates.

 

Some of their proposals include taking away money from charter schools, special education and non-public pupil aid. Some of our proposals would reallocate money and provide mandate relief so schools have the revenue necessary to address areas that are currently underfunded. But if changes aren’t made, many schools will have to cut their budgets, which is ultimately going to impact teachers.

 

*DEMOCRATS OPPOSE COMMON SENSE SCHOOL SOLUTIONS*

One of the ways we tried to bring more money to schools – and even teacher pensions – was through a change to our universal school lunch program.

 

You’ll recall that every Minnesota student currently can receive a free breakfast and lunch at school each day, regardless of the income level of their parents. A recent plan would only allow children from a family making less than $150,000 a year to receive a free lunch (the breakfast program would continue to be free for all). Making this change would have freed up $111 million per year to be sent back to schools through Local Option Revenue.

 

We’ve also heard a lot about the need to improve teacher pensions to entice graduating students to enter the profession while rewarding those who have dedicated their lives to educating our kids. An amendment was offered that would have changed the bill to allocate that $111 million to provide much-needed support to improve teacher pensions and help stabilize the Teachers Retirement Association.

 

Unfortunately, Education Minnesota (EdMN) – the teachers’ union - testified against this idea. While unions play a role in advocating for educators, it is crucial to acknowledge that this opposition ultimately helped block an opportunity to bolster teacher retirement benefits.

 

Whether it’s reallocating current funding, providing mandate relief or trying to fund teacher pensions, the money has to come from somewhere. Despite wasting $18 billion last session and raising taxes by $10 billion – moves which helped create the projected $6 billion deficit we will soon face - Democrats want to raise taxes AGAIN and spend more. Education Minnesota is advocating for increasing revenue as opposed to being responsible with current spending (which increased by 40 PERCENT last session).

 

These are the K-12 education challenges we face in the Minnesota House with 67 Republican members and 67 Democrats.

 

If you’d like to watch the House K-12 Education Finance Committee hearing on the school lunch bill, you can find it here. [ [link removed] ]

 

In liberty,

 

Drew

 











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