House Education Policy Bill Released.  The House Education Innovation Policy Committee released HF 1376, the House's 2017 omnibus education policy bill.  The bill is only 41 pages long, which is emaciated by usual policy bill standards.  Chair Sondra Erickson said it was her goal to not burden school districts with additional mandates with the last few years saddling so many new duties on districts.  Here is the bill summary:  HF 1376 Bill Summary.  The bill was presented today and amendments will be offered on Thursday.  It will be interesting to see how many amendments are offered and whether or not they go on the bill.

The House Education Innovation Policy Committee also heard Representative Jim Nash's SF 1944, a bill that would create an apprenticeship program for senior high students and provide a tax credit for businesses that partner with a school to create apprenticeship opportunities.  Last, but not least, the committee heard Representative Jenifer Loon's SF 1906 that modifies post-secondary enrollment options by adding additional states as eligible participants.

The House Education Finance Committee heard four bills.  They were:

HF 268-Theis-Grants to the Sanneh Foundation for Work with Chronically-Absent and Low-Performing Students

HF 670-Scott-Making Compensatory Pilots Permanent

HF 1661-Lee-Modifies Graduation Incentives Program

HF 1874-Poston-Funding for Collaborative Urban Educator Program

The Senate E-12 Policy Committee closed out the day hearing six bills.  Four of the bills were authored by Committee Chair Eric Pratt.  Those bills were SF 1171, a bill that cleans up charter school law; SF 1476, a bill that allows districts to post school board proceedings online; SF 1071, a bill that clarifies procedures districts must follow when applying for grants; and SF 1471, a bill that would make state test results available to school districts and teachers within two weeks of being taken.  Senator Roger Chamberlain's bill--SF 1582--that would allow charter schools to change authorizers was also heard as was Senator Carla Nelson's SF 1663, a bill that makes children down to birth eligible for the early childhood scholarship program.

The Senate needs to pass its omnibus policy bill out of the E-12 Policy Committee by Friday and it will be interesting to see what the timeline is for the bill's release.  I will keep you posted.

INTRODUCTIONS

There weren't a lot of bill introductions today because both Houses and the Legislature are meeting Monday through Thursday this week to process bills to meet the first committee deadline, which is Friday.  So here is the abbreviated list of introductions.

House

HF 2215-Slocum-Qualifies Charter Schools for Extended Time Revenue

Senate

SF 1873-Marty-Incorporates Service Learning into Minnesota's Education System

SF 1885-Nelson-Establishes Foundation and Incentive Revenue for School Districts