Committee Reports.  Two education-related committees met today.  The early afternoon featured the House Education Finance Committee, which heard four bills.  The two bills of greatest interest to those who follow funding were HF 4272, Representative Knoblach's bill that provides additional revenue for districts with high levels of special education cross-subsidies, and HF 3591, Representative Dettmer's bill that increases transportation sparsity revenue.

Here is a data run for Representative Knoblach's bill:  HF 4272

Other bills included Represenative Franke's HF 4299, a bill that requires school districts to do a threat assessment, and Representative Jessup's HF 4302, a bill that provides a grant to the Mounds View School District for its early college program.

The Senate Education Finance Committee handled five bills.  They were:

SF 3743--Senator Carla Nelson's bill that provides a $1,000,000 for competitive grants for school districts to develop character development education programs.

SF 3123--Senator Carla Nelson's bill to increase state aid for school district telecommunications projects.

SF 3013--Senator Justin Eichorn's bill that expands eligibility for early childhood scholarships down to birth and modifies the administration of the early childhood scholarship program.

SF 2540--Senator Justin Eichorn's bill that provides a grant to the Children's Discovery Museum of Grand Rapids.

SF 3433--Senator Rich Draheim's bill that authorizes transportation for certain pregnant or parenting teens.