Gov. Tim Walz’s initial budget plan put $26 million toward addressing the pandemic enrollment losses schools districts are facing.
View impact by school district of $26 million.
With an improved February budget forecast, the governor released a supplemental budget request late last week that provides additional support.
In it, he’s targeting $68 million to backfill the compensatory revenue losses school districts are experiencing through the pandemic. The combined pandemic and compensatory backfills offered by Walz would go a long way toward getting schools the revenues they have budget for almost a year ago.
The House is advancing the pandemic enrollment aid at this time, but the Senate has not taken action on any of these revenue loss issues for schools.
Other Budget Support
The Walz supplemental budget request also calls for $7.5 million to go toward non-exclusionary discipline training grants, most likely aimed at the school districts that have entered into plans with the Minnesota Human Rights Commission. Another $10 million is proposed to pay for tutoring support to help students recover from unfinished learning from the pandemic school year.
