In spite of the fact that we were facing record budget deficits due to the slow economy, I was successful at protecting our K-12 schools from any direct impact from budget cuts. I also worked hard to continue Minnesota’s tradition of maintaining high standards for teachers and students. We know the quality of our schools and the education our students receive is dependent, first and foremost, on the quality of the teachers in the classroom. We cannot degrade that quality by adopting shortcuts to our teacher training or reducing the standards for our children.
These are some of the specific successes we had on behalf of our state’s students over the last 2 years—in spite of our budget challenges.
Early Childhood:
K-12:
Higher Ed.:
The 2007-08 session was a great 2 years for children.
We restored the 2003 cuts to Early Childhood education programs so we can
get more kids off on the right foot and begin to close the achievement gap.
We addressed long-term funding problems—especially in the area of
special education—by directing $850 million in additional funding to K-12
schools. We put an end to double
digit tuition increases at our public colleges and universities, and invested
nearly $400 million in public works projects to keep our colleges and
universities on the cutting-edge.
We also began to reform the system to look for places we can save and get
more resources into the classroom to reduce class sizes.
We created a special education task force to examine state and federal
law to see if we can reduce duplicative mandates, eliminate some paper work and
reverse the drain these programs have created on many districts’ general fund
budgets.
We created the school finance reform task force to tackle the huge task of
making our K-12 funding system adequate, equitable and transparent.
The results of the work of that task force are embodied in HF 4178 which
was introduced near the end of the session and will be the K-12 finance
committee’s major project at the start of the 2009-10 session.
I’m proud to be one of many bipartisan co-authors of that bill.
One of the reforms that did not become law will be another top priority for
me next session. Currently our
school report cards that provide parents and the community with information
about school performance are very limited in the kind of information they
provide. What they do tell us is
how much this year’s students know as measured by the results of a single test
in reading, math or writing.
The 2007 session brought a renewed stability in education funding to districts that I represent. I was able to advocate for increased funding of the special education cross-subsidy that will provide all three of my districts (191, 194 and 196) with larger than average funding increases over the next two years (6.6%, 6.3% and 6.1% respectively).
Like many suburban districts, the school districts I represent had been increasingly hobbled by the special education cross-subsidy caused by the freeze in the state’s funding formula of this mandate in 2003. For the last 4 years, this freeze had forced most school districts to move more and more money out of the regular classroom to support these unfunded mandates. In district 191 alone the cross subsidy had risen to $7 million this year.
By advocating to reverse this trend we not only were able to stop the growth of this cross subsidy, we were able to begin to fix the problem. This will free up more money to go to the classroom to reduce class sizes and restore programs—or at least minimize the need for further cuts.
Some will argue that this money would have been better spent by funding the per pupil formula. For two of my districts this is completely untrue. Districts 191 and 196—like so many other districts around the state—are currently suffering from declining enrollment. Funding the formula means much less money for declining enrollment districts. By advocating funding for the special education cross-subsidy, the school districts I represent did much better than they would have done under the Governor’s funding plan.
To be completely honest, I must admit that though the funding we were able to provide will add some financial stability to districts, it still will not return them to where they were before the years of flat funding in 2003 and 2004. Because the surplus we had to work with was really just enough to cover rising current costs, we were not able to provide enough funding to reinstate past cuts—only enough to mitigate future cuts in the short term. Also, Districts 191 and 196 still have declining enrollment concerns, and all three districts I represent still have a large special education cross subsidy. I will be watching—and listening—closely as these districts take a closer look at the long-term impact of these funding increases.
The Minnesota state constitution obligates the state to provide a free education for all students. Education is the foundation of our democracy and a primary contributor to our economic growth. Our academic standards remain high, but every year our schools are met with new challenges from the state and national levels as they serve the needs of a diverse student population.
In order for school districts to meet these demands, we must implement a stable, reliable funding mechanism from the state from year-to-year. Unfortunately, this coming year will be the third consecutive year that per-pupil funding from the state has been the same. During this time, Burnsville-Eagan-Savage District #191 has cut almost $10 million from its budget. Fortunately, local voters approved an excess levy referendum in 2002 or the cuts would have been even more drastic. Some local legislators have argued publicly that schools do not have a funding problem, they have a spending problem. However, an independent auditor has determined that many school districts across the state, including #191, are indeed under funded. In addition, the legislative auditor has conducted a study on the impact of the "so-called" No Child Left Behind Law. This study (http://www.auditor.leg.state.mn.us/Ped/2004/pe0404.htm) indicates implementation of the law will create even more funding issues over the next decade. Certainly those with children in our schools know this is true: District #191 has tightened the belt, trimmed the fat, and made every possible cut. This is not an issue of excess. This is an issue of funding.
Early Childhood & K-12
Higher Education
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The Volunteers for Morgan Committee
PO Box 1773, Burnsville MN 55337-1773