Dear John,
Our public schools are the center of our communities. In crisis moments like Metro Surge, our public schools are places families find stability, care, and connection. This winter, we saw what’s possible when we move together, and we don’t plan on stopping now.
ICYMI: in our previous email, because of the momentum of public school families organizing across the state, MFPS now stands for Minnesota Families for Public Schools! 🎉
As families organizing for public education statewide, we have a vision for transformative funding for our schools – funding worthy of our brilliant students, dedicated educators, and committed families. To make that vision real, the organizing starts now.
As lawmakers enter end-of-session negotiations, here are two ways to act today:
✉️ Urge your lawmakers to pledge to pass key bills this session and fight for transformative public education funding now and into the future.
📢 Join us at the Capitol for a rally and lobby visits on May 6.
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Schedule for May 6:
9:30-10:30am - Check in, lobby training, and Minneapolis lobby visits begin
10:30-11:30am - Rally in the rotunda 👈 Priority moment!
11:30am-12:30pm - Lobby training, and lobby visits
12:30-1:30pm - More lobby visits
We’re in this together! Coaching and support will be available throughout the day for people signed up for lobby visits. We’ll take care of getting folks scheduled.
Our legislative priorities:
A high-priority bill for MFPS is the Compensatory Aid “hold harmless” bill.
Compensatory funding is one of the main ways the state directs additional resources to schools serving students with the greatest needs. It’s based on the number of students from lower-income families and helps fund critical support in our schools – but right now, that funding is going down for two reasons.
The compensatory aid calculation relied on forms families filled out to receive free and reduced lunch. Those forms are no longer coming in after lawmakers passed statewide free lunch, leading to inaccurate calculations – a process that lawmakers need to update.
During Operation Metro Surge, many students were kept home and forced to shelter in place, which directly impacts enrollment-based funding.
With resources stretched thin, schools are cutting counselors, family liaisons, and language support staff – the people who hold our school communities together. This isn’t because our schools don’t need these supports, it’s a result of years of disinvestment that has allowed this to take place right now. The Compensatory Aid bill on the table this year is a stop-gap measure to prevent massive cuts, and give our lawmakers time to fix this broken formula.
Other key bills MFPS members are pushing for:
Repealing Walz’s cuts to special education
Rental assistance to keep families in their homes
A 1% wealth tax on Minnesotans with more than $10 million dollars
Increasing school mental health funding
Keeping ICE out of our schools
Minnesota used to have one of the best public education systems in the country. Over the past 20+ years, our schools have been systematically defunded and we have sunk to 26th in the country for funding. In these conditions, no Minnesota lawmaker in office in the past two decades can tell you they have gotten the job done for our public schools.
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Act now to put public education at the top of lawmakers’ agendas:
✉️ Urge your lawmakers to pledge to pass key bills this session and fight for transformative public education funding now and into the future.
📢 Join us at the Capitol for a rally and lobby visits on May 6.
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Jesse
651.641.6199
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