Legislative Highlights and Budget Battles
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Legislative Highlights and Budget Battles

By March 29, 2025 No Comments

Last Week in Summary

Legislative work continues as the first two bill deadlines draw near on Friday, April 4. Committee meeting agendas are filled with testimonies and presentations from agency leaders, and stacked with bills that have to move before Friday. The third deadline comes one week later and the day before a weeklong break, on April 11. The special election in Senate District 6 has been set for April 29.

Rumors came to fruition with the release of Senate budget targets last Friday, pressuring the House to release their targets, which they did on Saturday. Most of the House and Senate budget targets are in the negative, but it’s a mixed bag for education.

The good news is neither the House or Senate propose cutting the Education budget next biennium. In fact, the House is proposing a one-time infusion of $40M whereas the Senate is going with a no-net change in the Education budget for FY 26-27. The Governor’s plan cuts $240M out of Education in the next biennium.

The “tails” budget, FY 28-29, is where the three camps really diverge. The Governor’s plan would cut $443M, the Senate $687M and the House plan would leave the tails for Education untouched. Solving the longer term tails budget isn’t something they have to do, but an area that will create friction as budget negotiations ramp up after the legislature returns from their upcoming spring break.

House Education Finance

The week started in Ed. Finance committee with HF 2387, a bill that would offer students who choose not to have a free school lunch the opportunity to receive a ½ pint serving of milk during the school lunch period at no cost to the student. Representatives agreed they should be able to find some flexibility together. Chair Kresha mentioned removing the fiscal note from the bill as it is unnecessary in his opinion. The bill was laid over.

HF 2388 was also introduced. The bill would change the name of local optional revenue (LOR) to “Basic Supplemental Revenue,” and adds a new first tier of revenue equal to $100 per pupil unit, provided entirely in state aid. This state aid is provided to all school districts and charter schools. Rep. Bakeberg (R-Jordan) emphasized that this bill would provide the funding and flexibility our school districts are looking for. The bill was laid over.

Thursday’s committee heard a presentation on READ Act Implementation from MDE, and went over HF 2433, the Governor’s Education Budget Proposal. Members questioned the Department of Education thoroughly on the steep education budget cuts.

House Education Policy

Tuesday’s Ed. Policy committee heard HF 69, a bill authored by Rep. Quam (R-Byron) that would require most cities, towns, and school districts to conduct their general elections on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November of an even-numbered year. Cities of the first class would retain the authority to choose to conduct their general elections in either the odd- or even-numbered year. Rep. Quam says the intent of this bill is uniformity. The idea is that you would get higher voter participation, and fewer schools would have to pay for the elections on their own. Public testimony against the bill centered around the fact that the legislature has trusted districts for 30 years to make this decision on their own. A mandate would be unwarranted and would disrupt an already well-functioning system. Members debated, with some saying they don’t believe we should try to fix a problem that isn’t there. The bill was laid over, although Rep. Quam acknowledged its unlikely to move forward this year.

Rep. Keeler (D-Moorhead) brought HF 2067 to the committee, a bill that modifies the list of persons to whom a parent reports an absence, defines when a student is considered as being in attendance, and many other changes. Rep. Keeler said she wants to acknowledge there is still a massive amount of work to do and is planning to take policy work into the interim. She hopes there will be a larger crew talking about attendance next year. The bill was laid over.

Wednesday’s committee heard HF 1999, a bill authored by Rep. Greene (D-Edina). The bill provides that data may not be requested from a school district anonymously, and allows districts to charge a data requester for the employee time spent redacting not-public data if the requester fails to appear to inspect their requested data. Co-chair Bennett (R-Albert Lea) said this problem needed to be solved, but needs to be solved carefully because we’re dealing with public transparency. The bill had bipartisan support and is moving to Judiciary committee.

Senate Education Finance

Tuesday’s Ed. Finance committee heard SF 2250, a bill that modifies hours of instruction. This bill allows hours of instruction in secondary school to include educational experiences that allow students to earn academic credit, are available to all enrolled students, and are supervised, coordinated, and verified by a qualified teacher. Sen. Maye Quade (D-Apple Valley) urged that this bill would empower student centered learning, and keep students engaged and interested, which is not always an easy feat with traditional classroom style instruction. The bill was laid over.

Wednesday’s committee heard SF 2965, a bill that proposes additional flexibility in school service funds, aiming to open up funds for cafeteria facility improvements. Bill supporters spoke of the need for more efficient cafeteria prep and processes. Jeremy Schmidt, Superintendent of Becker Public School District, testified on behalf of the bill explaining that schools are dealing with strains on their food lines from supplying nearly 50,000 more meals now with the implementation of Universal School Meals. Jeff Holmberg, Superintendent of Centennial Schools, suggested an amendment to the bill that would include facility expansions. Because the number of students served meals each day has increased, some schools are simply running out of room. Sen. Kreun (R-Blaine) thought there might be time to add the amendment. The bill was laid over.

Senate Education Policy

Monday’s Ed. Policy committee heard SF 1687, a bill that proposes allowing students to self carry Narcan, an opioid antagonist, with a parent’s permission. Members heard multiple emotional testimonies in support of the bill, urging that this bill is a product of necessity. SF 1687 was laid over.

SF 2882 was introduced by Sen. Cwodzinski (D-Eden Prairie) and modifies the definition of attendance in schools. This no cost policy had support on both sides, senators agreed it would help find solutions to the absentee crisis in schools right now. A student who is with an employee of the district, even if outside of the classroom, would be considered in attendance that day. Testifiers say currently, without uniform tracking, the data on attendance is extremely noisy. SF 2882 was sent to Ed. Finance.

Wednesday’s committee walked through the current Ed. Policy omnibus bill. A handful of testimonies were heard.

Education Committees & Schedules

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