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

  
“Education is the moral and economic issue of our time. There is no other issue that has the same power to fundamentally transform an individual’s life, opportunities, and successes,” said Senator Carla Nelson (R-Rochester). “This bill guarantees schools will have the resources they need to continue providing a great education to our students, while investing in the bold work that we started when I was chair of the education committee — like the LETRS program, teachers of color, and mental health. These reforms will make a critical difference in the lives of students and their teachers as we work to recover from the Covid-19 pandemic.”

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 it on the specific needs of their districts.  

Key provisions included in the final bill: 

• 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.
  
• 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.