Friends and neighbors,
The Repair Minnesota session continues. This week we are talking about repairing the damage caused to schools by last year’s education mandates. Despite $2.2 billion in new education funding last year, school budgets are being crushed by excessive mandates. Many are facing shortfalls.
On Tuesday, my Republican colleagues in the Senate and I announced a proposal that will give flexibility and relief to local schools from these unnecessary mandates.
Our bill allows school boards to transfer funding from one area of their budget to another, as long as they pass a public resolution announcing the move. This option will be available for the next three school years and applies to mandates from the 2023 and 2024 education bills. It cannot impact salaries, benefits, or result in property tax increases.
The frustrating thing is this could have been avoided. We warned Democrats over and over last year that the mandates they were pursuing would create significant problems for schools. Unfortunately, they did not listen to those warnings and now we have to repair the damage before the impact gets any worse.
Our priority must be students and their academic achievement, not pursuing any sort of radical agenda or hamstringing schools with burdensome mandates. Restoring this flexibility will make sure schools can use state assistance to do what is best for their students and their district’s unique needs.
Please feel free to reach out if you have any questions or concerns.
Sincerely,