E-12 Funding Deal Imminent. The final content of the bill has yet to be completely determined, but a deal on the E-12 Funding and Policy bill is coming close to fruition. The conference committee worked tirelessly through the night in informal sessions and has developed what appears to be a final package that was delivered by the House in an offer this afternoon.

There is talk that the offer was to include a number of other provisions, including the New Minnesota Miracle, were slated to be in the offer as late as this morning, but a number of these high-priority items for each body were dropped from the bill when negotiations came to pretty much a crashing halt (at least that is what I was told) when one body or the other felt that the bill was out-of-balance in terms of content. Wish I could have been there. Oh, to be a fly on the wall in a world without flyswatters.

Commissioner Seagren also testified that the bill is extremely light on the Governor's pet provisions and is at risk of being vetoed unless a later iteration of the bill includes some of these initiatives.

All I can say right now is "Stay tuned. Film at 6. Or 7. Or 8. Or 10. Or . . ."