Commentary; Posted: 8/3/05
New K-12 funding greatly benefits schools
By Don Heinzman
The Minnesota Legislature gets a low grade for being tardy but a good grade for the K-12 education bill it finally passed after a special session and government shut-down.
Before this last session, the ECM Editorial Board warned that aid for K-12 education was highest on the list of priorities for growing suburban communities. The board reasoned that because public schools hadnít received an increase in aid from the state in three years, the education of public school students was suffering.
Gov. Tim Pawlenty and both party leaders realized early in the session that public schools needed more revenue from the state. The question was: How much more and from what source?
The compromise by both political parties and the leadership of the governor worked out to $661 million more new money and $129 million more in tax levying authority. The education bill amounted to $12.6 billion to fund education for the next two school years.
That resulted in 4 percent more state aid in this coming school year and 4 percent more in 2006-07 for K-12 education.
Gov. Pawlenty, after realizing his racino gambling proposal was going nowhere, showed leadership by breaking the logjam with his cigarette health impact fee-tax.
To his credit, Pawlenty insisted on the state trying a new way to pay teachers, and got the Legislature to spend $86 million. Schools that adopt this plan based on merit will get $260 more per pupil this school year and $190 per pupil plus $70 in equalized aid for fiscal year 2007.
While teachers may resist this in principle and haggle about how their performance will be judged, school districts will be waiting in line to get the money.
The Legislature also changed the cap and referendum authority for ìgrandfathered districtsî so they could go to the voters for more money, and some will.
Thereís also $23 million for special education, more for early childhood education, $11 million for gifted programs, $7.5 million for telecommunications access and $3.3 million for on-line learning.
This new money plays differently across the districts. Most school boards are breathing a sigh of relief and are planning to hire back some teachers and take less money out of their reserves.
Anoka-Hennepin will receive $12 million in new state money including $3 million for a pilot project to help students across the district who are experiencing poverty.
In Elk River, having the biggest funding increase in 15 years, the district will be able to start the year with a balanced budget.
Forest Lake will get an estimated $1.6 million more for this year and $1.8 million for the following year, enough to hire back some of the teachers.
In Burnsville, due to lost aid for 250 fewer students, the new revenue is at zero percent.
Some will say K-12 schools should have received more aid from the state, because so many had to make cuts in their budgets to stay alive. This is true, but most school administrators are welcoming the new aid and are complaining less.
It remains to be seen if people will forget the special session that produced one of the best K-12 education packages in a long time.
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