The Safe and Supportive Schools legislation are now part of the Omnibus Education Bills before the House and Senate. MREA supports positive and safe school cultures for all students and stated that in our 2013 platform. But MREA has concerns about the intense prescriptions in the current bills and the costs for districts for implementation.
The Costs
Minnesota’s Office of Management and Budget in a Local Impact Fiscal Note reports that the average district cost statewide is estimated to be $49,370 per district, or $30.80 per pupil, and MMB noted a relationship between size of district and per pupil cost.
Smaller rural districts reported that they would be less able to absorb costs related to implementation of SF 783 per pupil (an average of $38.97) than did larger rural districts (an average of $26.82) or metro area districts (an average of $15.46).
To put this in perspective, $30 per pupil is about 0.6% on the formula.
Take Action
Given these costs and the disproportionate distribution of these costs, MREA urges you to have conversations with your local legislators about these bills.
- Is the problem in your schools and region so severe, that it requires a solution this intensive, prescribed, and costly?
- When the Senate Omnibus bill has 1% and 0% new basic formula revenue, ask your Senator whether fixing the bullying problem statewide with a one size fits all policy is worth 60% of the new basic formula revenue the Senate is providing schools?
Facts & Resources
So you have the most up-to-date information on the Safe and Supportive Schools legislation as of April 22, 2013, MREA provides you the following:
MREA Summary of the Requirements of Safe and Supportive Schools (HF 826 4th Engrossment)
MMB Local Impact Fiscal Note on SF 783
House Research Summary of HF 826
Full Text of HF 826 4th Engrossment