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Week 8 Recap – Minnesota Budget Talks Stall With Weeks Left

By April 12, 2026No Comments

Week 8 – Minnesota Budget Talks Stall With Weeks Left

The Week in Review

Last week on Tuesday, Legislators returned to the Capitol following the Easter and Passover break. With the policy deadlines behind them, their attention shifted toward potential budget bills. The Governor’s supplemental budget is starting to get some airtime in various committees. Walz’s proposal to cut another $50 million from special education is a focal point of discussion, and thankfully there doesn’t seem to be much, if any, appetite in the legislature to go along with this item. Supplemental spending plans are due to be passed out of their respective committees by 5pm this coming Friday. Stopping progress on supplemental budget bills from advancing is a reluctance to set supplemental spending targets in either body, especially in the House where the partisan tie is making everything difficult. With five weeks to go to adjournment there is a lot of uncertainty about whether agreements on a supplemental budget will be reached by the end of the session.

Senate Education Finance

The committee reviewed SF 5000 that would provide an unspecified amount for one-time school safety aid to school districts, intermediate school districts, and other cooperative districts, as well as charter schools. The bill also provides one-time grants to non-public schools. They reviewed a fund transfer request for ISD 197 (South St. Paul) and SF 3969 establishing a new grooming criminal offense. SF 3625 is the policy bill advanced by PELSB, which includes a provision providing additional flexibility for Tier 2 teachers to meet requirements for enrollment in teacher preparation programs.

The committee reviewed the Governor’s Education Budget recommendations and took public testimony on the Governor’s recommendations. Concerns raised by testifiers focused on the additional budget reductions in special education and the proposed changes to literacy incentive aid. The cooperative portion of student support personnel aid is also slated for a distributional change in the Governor’s bill, but this was rejected last session as it created winners and losers among cooperative programs.

House Education Finance

Co-Chair Kresha (GOP) cancelled his hearing last Tuesday and instead punted the proposed agenda to this coming Tuesday. Co-Chair Youakim (DFL) reviewed HF 3119, legislation pushed by Education Minnesota that would establish statewide minimum salary levels for teachers and non-licensed staff beginning in FY27 and creating a statewide Educator Group Insurance Program (EGIP). This was mostly an informational hearing and given the magnitude of this proposal it won’t advance in this session.

The Week Ahead

Senate Education Finance

The committee will review another fund transfer request, this one for ISD 152 (Moorhead). They will also discuss Sf 4677 that would loosen,  loosening, within parentally agreed-to IEPs, regulations on restrictive procedures. The bill is controversial, but school officials and some parents are asking for changes to recent legislation that all but prohibit restrictive procedures.
On Wednesday and Thursday, the committee will walk through a supplemental budget bill and send it to the full Senate Finance committee. It’s unclear as of this morning if they have a positive or negative budget target to work with.

House Education Finance

Co-Chair Kresha (GOP) has the gavel on Tuesday and will review two bills aimed at improving funding for schools. The first is HF 4114 which would repeal the scheduled $250 million cut to special education in FY 28-29. The second, HF 3493, is up again, but with a delete-everything amendment posted. The bill would repurpose $50 million from the Northern Lights Express light rail project and infuse that funding into safe schools’ revenue, including non-public schools.
Co-Chair Youakim (DFL) has the gavel on Thursday and will review HF 4893 that would add more funding to Student Support Personnel Aid. They will also walk through the Governor’s supplemental education budget plan. Without a budget target for this committee or even some kind of House GOP-DFL leadership agreement for education budget matters, it’s unclear if they will be able to produce a supplemental bill by 5pm on Friday.