Top Minnesota lawmakers and Gov. Tim Walz have reached an agreement on an education plan that will include the largest spending increase for the state’s public schools in 15 years, several lawmakers announced.
Many details of the bipartisan agreement remained unclear on Tuesday, but the attention-grabber trumpeted by both Democrats and Republicans was agreement on two straight years of increases to the formula that determines how much money schools get based on the number of students and other factors.
Under the agreement, the formula would increase 2.45 percent for the 2021-22 school year and 2 percent for the following year, lawmakers said.
Minnesota’s flush accounts — aided by a hefty influx of federal funds — make the increases possible without tax hikes, making the compromise bill possible, lawmakers said.
“This has been the number one ask from Minnesota schools: more money,” said Sen. Roger Chamberlain, R-Lino Lakes, who chairs the Senate’s education committee. Chamberlain said Republicans were able to fend off a number of unspecified “mandates” proposed by Democrats, noting that funding from the state formula carries few strings attached.
Democrats said they believe the funding increase will help schools districts across the state, some of which have seen enrollment fall and are mulling cuts, including teacher layoffs.
“I do think some teachers will be able to keep their jobs because of this bill,” Senate Minority Leader Susan Kent, DFL-Woodbury, said.
OTHER SPENDING
In addition to the funds, Democrats were claiming victory in other spending programs, including $10.4 million in reimbursements to school districts for special education costs, $4 million over the next two years for programs for students for whom English isn’t the primary language spoken at home, and $33.5 million over the next two years for programs that aim to attract, train and retain non-white teachers.
“That’s a historic investment in teachers of color and American Indian teachers,” said Rep. Jim Davnie, DFL-Minneapolis, who chairs the education committee in the Democratic-Farmer-Labor-controlled House.
The total size of the K-12 education bill appears to be between $1.1 billion and $1.2 billion over the next two years. The actual agreement had yet to be written as a formal bill Tuesday, and it remained unclear when it would be introduced and voted on by each chamber to be signed by Walz. The Legislature is scrambling to finalize a two-year, $52 billion state budget as a June 30 deadline approaches.
