The Minnesota Senate today approved a bipartisan bill that fully funds E-12 schools with the largest formula increase in 15 years, emphasizes student literacy, mental health, and supporting teachers of color without burdensome mandates.

“The last year has been nothing but a failure to keep our kids at the forefront of policy making. They were shifted from learning model to learning model, isolated from their peers, and left to struggle with inadequate support from excessive mandates and restrictions,” Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka (R-East Gull Lake) said. “Empowering local school districts to address the needs they see in their schools without burdensome new mandates will help students recover from a year of massive disruption in their education.”

The education budget addresses the top request of public schools – money not mandates. This legislation will provide historic levels of funding as well as almost no new mandates on schools. This is the largest student formula increase in 15 years – an increase of $1.1 billion over the next four years. More than 80% of the new funding is placed on the state education formula, the money will be sent directly to local school districts allowing them the flexibility to spend on the specific needs of their districts.

Key provisions included in the final bill:

• Grants are provided to increase teachers of color and American Indian teachers. Research shows that hiring more teachers of color improves the performance of students of color. The benefits include stronger reading and math scores, higher graduation rates, more interest in higher education, and fewer disciplinary issues. Students have reported feeling motivated by having teachers of color as role models, as well as a stronger sense of belonging.
• The bill continues the bipartisan focus on early literacy by expanding the successful LETRS teacher training program. LETRS has become the consensus approach to training educators on how to properly teach reading to young students, particularly students with dyslexia.
• Several provisions to support student mental health, including a grant to the organization LiveMore, ScreenLess to address the effects of social media and screen time overuse and misuse, and funding for youth counseling at the elementary school level. The bill also includes funding for suicide prevention training for teachers and allows schools to use school safety funding for student mental health.
• A two-year delay in the implementation of all new academic standards. By delaying implementation, administrators and teachers can put their focus on helping students with learning loss instead of bringing on new curriculum.