An Education Bill That Falls Short
by Senator Jason Rarick

We adjourned regular Session on May 19. Though some bills were completed by that deadline, many were left undone – Education Finance being one of them. That meant we had to come back for a Special Session to button up the majority of our budget. I was disappointed we couldn’t get our work done on time, but I was more disappointed at how work was done in between regular Session and Special Session. During that time, working groups were expected to operate like committees do: public hearings, documents posted online, and opportunity for input. Unfortunately what we ended up seeing was most of these bills decided by a small group of people in a room away from the public eye. I was part of the Education working group, but due to this process, I did not see the Education bill until everything was agreed upon. There was no transparency in the process at all, and as a result, Minnesotans did not get to hear about what was at stake in these bills. With schools across the state starting soon, I wanted to give folks an overview of what’s included.

There are a few good things in this bill: consolidation transition aid to help school districts looking to begin that process, and continued funding for non-public schools which was originally at-risk for being cut due to Senate Democrats’ misguided session priorities. But for every good thing included, it feels like there’s a long list of negatives.

First of all, schools should not plan to see any tangible mandate relief. To take things back a bit, when Session began in January, the Senate was tied and we had co-chairs for our committees, including Education Finance. During that time, we invited local schools to the Capitol to discuss what they have been seeing and experiencing in their schools. Their outcry was unanimous: they needed mandate relief. That was the number one ask from schools this year, yet virtually nothing in the final bill addressed that request.

By far, the worst cut in this bill is that to Special Education funding. The bill creates a “blue ribbon commission” on special education, and they are tasked with finding ways to cut costs totaling $250 million in fiscal year 2028-2029. But what if this group can’t find areas to cut – then what? In my opinion, this plan lacks foresight, and it hurts our highest-need students. We knew we were going to have to make tough cuts because Democrats spent us into a $6 billion deficit, but the cuts should not come in the form of services to our students.

Special Education gets a funding cut, but you know what doesn’t? The budget for the Department of Education (MDE). In fact, they see a funding increase in this bill: $2 million this biennium, $2.7 million in the next. And that doesn’t even include the additional funding they’re receiving for legal fees, which totals $6 million. This is part of a greater trend of funding agencies over services Minnesotans rely on. Over the total state budget, there is $770 million in increased funding for state agencies, while simultaneously cutting funding for things like special education. Minnesotans expect us to have our priorities straight, and funding agencies over critical services is not what they want from their government.

There are a few additional points I want to point out. For the teachers, administrators, and schools – you should also know that basic per pupil revenue continues to be tied to inflation in this biennium and the next. I also wanted to point out that earlier in the year, a Democrat Senator from the metro area offered an amendment that would have severely limited how homeschooling can be conducted – luckily that language was not adopted into this bill.

Overall, this is a very disappointing bill that came together in an even more disappointing process. Minnesotans expect transparency and accountability from their elected officials, yet that process was abandoned. As a result we are left with a bill that hurts students and fails to address the real issues facing schools.