Budget Forecast Released.  It's really difficult to call anything that's happened during the pandemic good news (except for the recent news on progress toward a viable vaccination), but the state budget forecast released today qualifies as at least a pleasant surprise.  When the pandemic hit in March, the worst was assumed (and for many Americans, it really has been the worst thing imaginable) and that the economy was going to tank.  The stock market hit a low of 18,541.93 on March 23, but the trendline has been moving steadily upwards since albeit with a few fits-and-starts.  Remember the presentation that Peter Leatherman from Morris-Leatherman gave to SEE membership in September when he pointed out that the responses provided by participants were far more optimistic than the ones provided in April.  While the stock market is not a true measure of what is happening up and down the economy, I think in this instance it showed that the economic prospects of a large portion of the economy were not as adversely affected by the pandemic as once feared.  Please don't take this as a dismissal of the true pain felt by the small business owners and low-wage employees whose lives have been absolutely decimated by the pandemic.  As pointed out last week in the business press, large corporations have done well during the pandemic while small businesses, especially restaurants and service industries, have been crushed.

At any rate, Minnesota's budget situation is actually on the plus side of the ledger for the remainder of this fiscal year (which ends on June 30, 2021).  The February forecast had state revenues at $48.8 billion.  An interim forecast performed in May showed revenues down by $3.7 billion, but that has rebounded since to a loss of just $1.7 billion.  While revenue was down from the February forecast, so was spending to the tune of $1.1 billion.  Adding these--and several other variables together--and the state ends this fiscal year with a surplus of $641 million (see linked document for a more concise description).  It is my guess that a considerable portion of this revenue will go towards a relief package currently being negotiated by Governor Walz and the Legislature which may be taken up at the expected December special session.

The budget picture for the next biennium is less rosy, as the estimates show a looming budget shortfall of nearly $1.3 billion.  This would be reduced by any amount of the current fiscal year surplus that might be carried forward or if economic performance improves to the extent that revenues would exceed current projections.  Given the likelihood of the shortfall remaining in excess of $1.0 billion, frugality may be the order of the session as the Legislature and Governor work to hammer out agreements over the various budget areas.

Link: Budget and Economic Forecast

House Committee Chairs Named.  The House named its committee chairs for the coming biennium last evening and, like the Senate, there will be a change in the chairs of an education-related committee.  Representative Jim Davnie will remain as Chair of the Education Funding Committee and Representative Dave Pinto will remain Chair of the Early Childhood Funding and Policy Committee.  Representative Ruth Richardson will take over as Chair of the Education Policy Committee.  Representative Cheryl Youakim, Chair of the Education Policy Committee the past two sessions, will move over to chair the Property Tax Division of the House Tax Committee.  Representative Paul Marquart will remain Chair of the full Tax Committee.

Link to Story on House Committee Structure/Chairs: House committee, division chairs named for 2021-22 biennium

Membership rosters for the House and Senate committees are in the process of being developed and should be released at some point in December.

Senate Announces New Committee Structure and Chairs.  The Senate majority caucus announced its committee structure and chairs yesterday and there are a couple of surprises.  It wasn't entirely unexpected that there are more committees this year.  With such a large class of freshman elected in 2016, I expected that there would be a bit of restructuring to give as many of them chair responsibilities as could be sensibly managed.  Also, with Senators Tom Bakk and David Tomassoni breaking away from the DFL caucus and forming an independent caucus, the possibility existed that they would somehow be called upon to chair a committee and that did come to fruition with Bakk being named Chair of Capital Investment (Bonding) Committee and Tomassoni being named the Chair of the Higher Education Finance Committee.

While some of that may be surprising, the biggest surprise (at least to me) was the switching of Chairs between Senators Roger Chamberlain and Carla Nelson.  Senator Nelson has been the Chair of the Education Finance and Policy Committee for the past two years (Education Finance solely in 2017-2018) and Senator Chamberlain has been the Chair of the Tax Committee.  They will trade responsibilities in the coming biennium, with Nelson moving to Taxes and Chamberlain to Education Finance and Policy.  Senator Chamberlain has been a member of the education-related committees, but Senator Nelson did not serve on the Tax Committee during the last two biennia, but she did serve on the committee from 2013 to 2016.

Here is a link to the press release outlining the new committee structure and the chairs of each committee and subcommittee:  Senate Republicans Release Committee Structure and Chairs 

Analyzing the Election.    I thought I would let things marinate for a couple of weeks and take a close look at the election results before putting my thoughts into cyberspace.  Once I got through all the national banter, I simply came to the conclusion that this was one very odd election and really, how could it not be.  CoVID-19 has defined American life since March and the ripple effects of the virus clearly affected how Americans voted and, probably more often than not, how they voted.

I am no longer down in the gearbox of political campaigns so my observations are, for the most part, well above the fray, but I did not expect the Blue Wave--either in Minnesota or the United States--that much of the media thought was in the offing given the poll numbers spewed pretty much every day down the stretch during the election season.  Neither was I surprised that the margin between President Trump and President-elect Biden was not close to margin described in many of those polls.  I can't remember which SEE ZOOM event I was speaking at where I predicted there was going to be a lot of ticket-splitting.  While I expected President-elect Biden to prevail both in Minnesota and in the Electoral College, I didn't think he would have significant coattails.  Looking at the presidential numbers in Minnesota, Biden's spread was only one-half percentage point lower than then-President Obama's spread in 2012 (Obama-7.69%/Biden-7.10%) and the 2012 was a big swing election for the DFL in Minnesota that year with the Senate DFL picking up 9 seats and the House DFL picking up 12 to seize the majority in both House of the Legislature.

"How can that be?" one might ask (you might not, but someone might).  The 2012 wave election for the DFL followed the 2010 wave election that put the Republicans in control of both legislative bodies for the first time since the early-1970s.  In between elections, there was a government shutdown as the Legislature did not reach accord with the Governor until July.  Further, new legislative boundaries were drawn after the 2010 census, which always adds an X-factor to election season.  I think the lesson is that one has to look at every election season in the context of what may be happening across-the-board.  Clearly, the pandemic was on the minds of many Minnesotans as they voted, but with a wide variety of opinions about how it should be addressed really prevented a wave from developing on one side or the other on the issue.  I would argue--even though this article from Sunday's StarTribune argues otherwise Democrats debate how Minneapolis' 'defund the police' movement played in elections Centrists contend slogan cost the party House seats in Minnesota, nationally.--that the issues surrounding the discussions regarding public safety in the wake of George Floyd's death also didn't fuel a wave in one direction or the other.  It does appear that messaging surrounding public safety favored Republicans, but it had a greater effect outstate than in the suburbs.  Likewise, the CoVID-19-related issues appear to have had a greater effect in the suburbs than in outstate districts.  For those of you who recall Peter Leatherman's presentation to our September SEE meeting, those were the two issues that were most on the minds of Minnesotans and it appears the clash of those two issues and the partisan divide over them were counterweights that put a ceiling on the other side's gains.

I am not saying that the rhetoric around police reform didn't affect races, but here is an example as to why I don't believe it was as great as stated in the referenced article.  DFL Senator Matt Little lost to Republican Senator-elect Zach Duckworth in a Lakeville area seat, but just to the east Republican Senator Dan Hall was unseated by Senator-elect Lindsay Port.  Just south of the seat where Republican Senator Warren Limmer held off DFL challenger Bonnie Westlin, DFLer Ann Johnson Stewart easily won over Republican Greg Pulles to replace retiring Republican Senator Paul Anderson.  I am probably going to keep hitting this nail until I wreck the board, but each race has to be viewed in its own particular context and the qualities of each candidate often have as much to do with the result as any over-arching theme being promoted.

I was reluctant to make a prediction as to which party, both in Minnesota and nationally, would retain control of the respective legislative bodies.  I remember saying several times that I could envision any combination and I wasn't surprised to see the status quo maintained albeit with tighter margins both in St. Paul and Washington, D.C.  The DFL had a net gain of one seat in the Minnesota Senate, picking up the two suburban seats I mentioned above along with the seat in St. Cloud (more on that later).  The  Republicans picked up five seats in House (with a recount taking place on the Iron Range that could give them one more, although it's unlikely).  The Senate was where most of the attention was placed in media conversations, given the DFL only had to have a net gain of two seats to take control.  They did pick up three seats, but could not hold on to Senator Matt Little's seat in Lakeville or Senator Dan Sparks' seat in the Austin/Albert Lea area, leaving them one short.  The Republican gains in the House were interesting in that three came from outside the metropolitan area and two in the outer ring suburbs.  In many election cycles, close races determine who controls the Legislature and often times, the close races all fall on one side of the political divide.  That was not the case in 2020, each side won its share of close races.

A little bit more about St. Cloud.  In 2006, then-incumbent Tarryl Clark won the seat in a DFL-wave election by over 3,500 votes.  John Pederson won the seat (open after Clark's decision not to seek re-election) by 460 votes during the Republican-wave election of 2010.  Pederson held the seat comfortably by just under 2,000 votes during the 2012 DFL-wave election.  In 2016, the seat was open again after Pederson decided not to run and Republican Jerry Relph defeated DFLer Dan Wolgamott by 142 votes in a year that was kinder to Republicans at the legislative level (though arguably not a wave).  This year, DFLer Aric Putnam defeated Senator Relph by 316 votes.  As I hit the nail once again (I hope it's a sturdy board), one can see from these results that it is often difficult to predict what will happen in individual legislative districts from noise that is happening well above these frays.

My final thought is that Minnesota has seen its share of wave elections over the past twenty-plus years.  I would argue that we first saw this with former Governor Ventura's victory in 1998.  While not a definitive wave, it brought a lot of new voters into the system and that had an effect on legislative control.  Minnesota's elections in 2006, 2010, 2012, 2016 (to a lesser extent as explained above), and 2018 all saw dramatic shifts in legislative composition.  That may be in the offing again depending on how the pandemic plays out and what the new legislative boundaries look like.  With divided government, we may not see a reaction to policies pursued at the legislative level because both sides will own the results of the policy discussions.  One dynamic that I've witnessed over the past decade is that when one party controls the levers of government and moves policy forward aggressively, there is an almost inevitable reaction against those enactments come next election.  Curious to see if divided government forestalls that reaction.

And finally, I do have to say something regarding President Trump.  Everyone has an opinion and here is mine (and I hope people of all stripes find this as measured as I intend it).  I view American democracy as a house and that house is always under renovation.  If anyone has ever ripped up floorboards in a house, you know that you find all kinds of surprises; some pleasant and some otherwise.  I think we have seen both under President Trump.  He has clearly energized a segment of the voting populace that had become disenchanted with the process (Democratic pollsters/consultants Ruy Teixeira and Joel Rogers saw this coming over twenty years ago in their masterful America's Forgotten Majority: Why the White Working Class Still Matters).  While some of his policies have not been particularly helpful to the white working class, President Trump has clearly channeled their anxiety and brought them back into the system.  That isn't necessarily the bad thing some think it is if the end result is a system that works better for all Americans.  The work ahead is to make certain that we create a system that sees all people and hears all voices.  That is the responsibility of all of us as participants in our democracy.  Let's keep this house standing.

House Holding Hearings.  With the special session in the rear-view mirror (and perhaps another one on the horizon), the Minnesota House education-related committees are holding hearings to gain perspectives on how schools, students, and families fared during this Spring's distance-learning period.  Today's hearing featured testimony from students, parents, and community groups and centered on the challenges experienced, especially in communities of color and low-income households that characteristically face greater barriers to achievement.  It was a very impressive and impassioned set of witnesses and I urge everyone who has never had the opportunity to listen to Sondra Samuels, the director of the Northside Achievement Zone in Minneapolis, to tune in to the hearing at the link I've provided and listen in.  Samuels always does a wonderful job.

Education committees examine the report card on distance learning

The YouTube episode of the hearing is midway down in the story.  Tomorrow (Thursday), the House Education Finance Division will be hearing from a variety of school support groups (social workers, counselors, transportation providers).

Special Session (Number One) Comes and Goes.  It was a week that really flew by and in the end, major issues fell by the wayside.  The Special Session convened on Friday, June 12, and ran through the early morning hours of Saturday, June 20.  

This special session did not resemble recent special sessions in any way, shape, or form.  It has been the practice of gubernatorial administrations and legislative leadership over the past two decades to have all legislation pre-agreed to prior to a special session being called.  The nature of this session was bound to be different given the on-going debate over how to best address the medical and economic effects of the COVID-19 virus and that certainly turned out to be the case.

The Legislature came in with a healthy to-do list, first of which was to make a determination as to whether to extend Governor Walz' emergency powers that were first invoked with the Executive Orders in reaction to COVID-19.  There was no vote whether to restrict those powers during the regular session, but since the adjournment of the regular session, the Governor must call a special session every 30 days to provide the Legislature with an opportunity to restrict those powers.  That means there will likely be several special sessions between now and the start of the 2021 legislative session next January.  The Senate did vote to cancel the Governor's authority, but that bill did not pass in the House, meaning the Governor's authority remains in place.

StarTribune: Minnesota House blocks bid to end Walz's emergency powers

The political reaction surrounding the killing of George Floyd was unforeseen when the Legislature adjourned in May, but that has certainly taken center stage, even upstaging the bonding bill and COVID-19-related initiatives during the week-long special session.  Both the House and Senate passed comprehensive packages aimed at police reform, but the House proposal was broader and much more aggressive in its initiatives aimed at modifying police behavior.  The House proposal also addressed a number of underlying issues that many believe have contributed to disparities in law enforcement practices.  While hopes ran high that a meaningful compromise could be reached, the reluctance to remain in session by the Senate majority along with the multi-faceted nature of the issues involved, prevented an agreement from being reached.

Star Tribune: Police reform efforts collapse in divided Minnesota Legislature

The bonding bill also fell by the wayside.  There was hope late in the regular session that a compromise on the aggregate size of the bill could be reached and that there would be an accord on the last day of the session, but with a super-majority required to pass the bonding bill and neither minority caucus willing to provide votes for that to happen, the fruits of the serious negotiations being undertaken by the majority caucuses and the Governor never surfaced.

There was also legislation proposed to distribute the Federal dollars being delivered to the state that will be passed through to local units of government that also died.  Both the House and Senate passed legislation that would have accomplished that, but the bills were not identical which would have required a conference committee to work out a final compromise package and there did not seem to be the appetite for that to transpire.  Legislators in both parties are urging Governor Walz to distribute the revenue without legislative approval, which may well happen with the blessing of the Legislative Advisory Commission.  "What is the Legislative Advisory Commission?" you might ask.  Here is a descriptive link:

Minnesota Legislative Advisory Commission

Here is a StarTribune story on the issue:  City, county leaders press Gov. Tim Walz on $841M in COVID-19 aid

Given the inability to find common ground on the larger issues addressed during the special session, it was somewhat surprising that the omnibus education policy bill passed.  The bill was a scaled-down set of proposals that all were agreed upon during the regular session, but time ran out before the bill could pass both bodies.  The bill passed 67-0 in the Senate and 117-9 in the House.  Kudos to both Education Policy chairs, Representative Cheryl Youakim and Senator Carla Nelson for getting this one over the finish line during tense times on other issues.

Here is a link to the bill language:  HF 33--2020 1st Special Session Law Chapter 8

Bill Summary:  HF 33 Bill Summary.  This is the bill summary that went to the House floor.  An amendment was added (Article 1, Section 4) on the House floor last Friday providing the Ogilvie school district with a fund transfer.  That was the only change to the bill.

Stay Tuned.  I am sure many of you are wondering the state's next steps when it comes to how schools will open this fall.  Right now, the Minnesota Department of Education is preparing for three approaches:  (1) school as normal, (2) a continuation of the distance learning model adopted last spring, or (3) a hybrid model that would incorporate both distance and in-person instruction.  Many districts are trying a hybrid model for summer school and it will be interesting to see the results of those trials.  It is interesting that Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers is, at least at this point, leaving the decision on whether to open in a traditional sense up to local school districts.  Wisconsin and Minnesota have taken different approaches to dealing with a variety of issues related to COVID-19 and this may be another instance of that.

Catching Everyone Up.  It has been awhile and there hasn't been a lot to report up until the last week.  Like every other segment of society, it took the Legislature awhile to get its institutional feet underneath it and things are now moving quickly toward next week's constitutionally-mandated adjournment on Monday, May 18, at midnight.  The budget news from earlier this week (more on that later) makes it virtually impossible to see any additional financial investment coming from the state this year with the revenue situation for the next biennium also looking extremely bleak.

On the education front, it appears the House will be moving a very limited amount of revenue around from several budget areas that show a surplus to other areas that only received one-time revenue last year.  This is a miniscule amount of revenue.  The Senate has yet to unveil any spending bill and if there is any spending from that body, it will likely mirror the House in terms of amount.  Even if the economy hadn't fallen as markedly as it has, it was unlikely that there would have been a significant increase in the amount of revenue going out to school districts for next year.  There was hope that the increase in school safety revenue enacted last year could have been extended for another year, but beyond that, there wasn't a lot of buzz surrounding increased funding for K-12.  The House was looking more at early childhood education and the Senate was zeroing in on tax cuts.  While that didn't preclude additional dollars going to K-12, the final pre-pandemic legislation (at least from my vantage) was probably not going to include a significant investment in that area of the budget.

Both the House and Senate are working on policy bills right now.  The House has constructed its omnibus policy bill and the Senate has been hearing individual bills that may be incorporated into an omnibus bill.  What is more likely happening is now that the House has assembled its bill, the Senate may look at the bills it has heard and informally pre-conferee a bill with the House and fashion a final agreement to send back to the House that would include measures that both bodies have agreed upon.  It's not a perfect way of doing business, but I have found the process to be more transparent than I thought possible as the process has morphed from in-person to online.  Below is a link to the House omnibus education policy bill.  It is hoped that agreement on final policy bills can be reached by the end of this weekend and all next week can be used on the floors of the House and Senate to pass the measures.

HF 163 -- Author's Delete-All (There were amendments added to the bill at Wednesday's hearings, but there isn't a document available yet that shows those changes.)

For those of you who don't know what a delete-all is, it is an amendment that strikes the previous language from the bill and inserts an all-new version of the legislation.  Think of the bill number as a vehicle that picks up passengers along its journey through the legislative process.  Sometimes, the original language is retained and individual amendments are added as the bill moves along.  But when a wide range of new proposals are being added to the bill, the cleanest and most efficient way to incorporate these new initiatives is to start over and insert one comprehensive amendment that addresses everything the bill's author--and also that preferences of other legislators--wants to have in the bill going forward.  There may still be language added or subtracted from the bill through the amendment process (as happened in the House Committee on Wednesday), but the bill generally expresses the direction of the committee members that are in the majority. 

As is often the case, this isn't the way the process is described in most civics books, but even in years less confusing than this one has been the process usually unfolds in this manner.  It's a stay-tuned week.  Deb Griffiths has done a great job with her weekly updates describing how things are moving (or not moving) along, so if you haven't subscribed, do so.

State Economic Woes.  We are seeing an economic free fall nationally and no state or locality will be immune to the ripple effects of the slowdown caused by the pandemic and subsequent decisions to slow its spread.  Minnesota's situation mirrors the situation throughout the country. The state went from a projected surplus to end this biennium of about $1.5 billion to a projected deficit of $2.4 billion.  Almost all of the turnaround in the budget forecast comes from a steep drop in the amount of revenue collected by the state through the income and sales taxes.  The losses from are projected to be much lower collections of the income and sales taxes varies by about $300 million with the income tax loss being higher.  Given the fact that income tax plays a much heavier role in Minnesota's revenue collection system, I was somewhat surprised that the gap wasn't greater, but seeing the lines outside of Home Depot, it's obvious that while people are buying less, they are still buying things.  Here is a link to the MMB report.  I don't know if we'll get a clear picture anytime soon, but the June budget forecast should provide a more concise description of what has happened and what likely will happen revenue-wise going forward.

MMB May State Revenue Update

Sad News to Report.  I received sad news last week when I was told former Prior Lake-Savage Superintendent and SEE Executive Board Member Sue Ann Gruver passed away after a long battle with cancer.  Sue Ann was a true educational leader who was also an ardent supporter of educational equity.  Her list of accomplishments as a lifelong educator is extremely impressive and her influence will be felt in the many lives she has touched for years and years.  I know I speak for the entire SEE membership when I express my deepest condolences to the Gruver family.  I cannot say enough how much Sue Ann meant to all of us in the organization.

Sue Ann (Wilkinson) Gruver Obituary

State Starting to Feel Economic Downturn.  The House Ways and Means Committee heard from the Commissioner of Minnesota Management and Budget Myron Frans and State Economist Dr. Laura Kalambokidis gave an update of Minnesota's fiscal situation as the state begins to experience the economic ripple effects resulting from society-wide adjustments to the COVID-19 virus.  Economic activity in Minnesota began to slow as businesses shut down and the shelter-in-place orders were issued by Executive Order.  Revenue collection from three of Minnesota's primary taxes--individual income, corporate income, and sales--were all down.  The corporate franchise tax was up and the net effect of these dynamics is a drop in $103 million off the state's bottom line.  As outlined in the Minnesota Management and Budget Revenue and Economic Update document released last Friday and linked below,  IHS Markit--the firm that provides macroeconomic projections for Minnesota's budget forecasts--predicts a 5.4% decrease in national gross domestic product for 2020 and with Minnesota's economic performance tied very closely to national measures, we can expect the $1.5 billion forecasted budget surplus (much of which has been spent on COVID-19 related interventions and supports) to dwindle dramatically with a deficit looming as the Legislature convenes in 2021.  IHS Markit projects that the national gross domestic product will increase by more than 6% in 2021, but that will not make up for the revenue lost during the downturn.  This all bears watching and the IHS Markit projection is based on a relatively optimistic "V" recovery (rapid slide followed by rapid recovery, hence the V-shape) to which they assign a 45% level of probability.  IHS-Markit assigns a 35% probability to a more pessimistic recovery that would stretch into 2021.  It is difficult to tell how consumers will react even when the shelter-at-home restrictions are lifted, which makes projecting revenue numbers extremely difficult.  In another item, the federal stimulus package (considered modest in IHS-Markit's view) is factored into their economic performance numbers.

While the committee absorbed the troubling economic news, a larger portion of the committee process was dedicated to trying to map where the Legislature and the Governor can, and perhaps will, go from this point forward.  We are closing in on the end of the regular session and there is concern about how a precipitous downturn in revenue collection will be addressed during the interim.  The Governor could call a special session, but he also has the ability to reduce state expenditures in a variety of spending areas and that power has been used in previous times of economic trouble.  While the budget reserve sits at $2.4 billion, keeping that in place until the absolute last minute will be crucial and one legislator urged the administration to use unallotment powers before exhausting the budget reserve.

There will be difficult discussions over the coming months and today offered what will be the first taste of what lies ahead.

Link:  Minnesota Management and Budget Revenue and Economic Update

Breakthrough on Insulin Availability Bill.  In a positive sign that the Legislature is making progress on key issues that were high priorities entering the 2020 legislative session, the conference committee on the insulin availability bill came to agreement yesterday and it is expected that the entire Legislature will vote on the measure when it convenes again next Tuesday.  There were several bills the Legislature deemed necessary to pass this year and the insulin availability bill ranked high on that list, in the eyes of many second only to the bonding bill.  The reaction to COVID-19 has dramatically changed how the Legislature is conducting business and the fact that agreement was reached under these circumstances is clearly a positive sign that necessary items can--and likely will--be addressed as the Legislature continues its work.  

The Legislature must adjourn on Monday, May 19, and it will likely want to pass a bonding bill before it adjourns.  In addition, it will want to put its stamp on policies that have been covered by Governor Walz' Executive Orders.  Both the House and Senate have been working on sets of proposals dealing with education.  As I reported on Tuesday, the House held a remote hearing on its proposal that day and the Senate has also been working on a parallel set of initiatives.  The Senate has been dealing with all COVID-19-related discussions in a working group setting where individual committee chairs are brought into that process to cover issues related to their committees' jurisdiction.  The task force has yet to cover E-12 education issues, but I anticipate that will happen shortly.

Here is a link to the story on the agreement on insulin availability:  House, Senate expected to vote next week on insulin agreement

House Education Funding Division Back in Action.  The House Education Funding Division held its first Zoom meeting today to discuss a funding bill that is taking shape in the House.  While Governor Walz has issued Executive Orders that are governing the funding and delivery of pre-K through 12 grade education, some questions remain and the House bill discussed today--HF 4415 (DE10 Amendment)--aims to answer a number of those questions and address some crucial funding issues.  The bill's chief author, Representative Jim Davnie, outlined these items as the primary goals of the bill:

• Hold districts financially harmless to the extent possible.
• Code employees in the category in which they were originally hired.
• Allow greater flexibility for districts to transfer within district funds.
• Codify the provisions allowing the waiving of achievement testing that were enacted as part of the recent Federal stimulus package.
• Allow high school seniors to graduate on time.
• Adjust deadlines for licensure renewal.
• Allow student teachers who have nearly completed their practicum to gain full credit for their experience.

One item that is in the bill that differs from items on which there is clear guidance is the House bill would require districts to pay their hourly employees for scheduled hours that have been reduced due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 virus.  The section relating to this issue is found in Section 1, Subdivision 2, on page one and runs on to page two.  Many school districts are following this to the extent possible, but given the likely fiscal challenges that districts will be facing over the next few years, the desire to save dollars where one can is present.  Guidance from the Minnesota Department of Education allows for laying off hourly employees whose employment is not attached to a specific funding stream and the House would like to stem that.  A number of hourly employees and paraprofessionals testified in favor of the House legislation.  MASE Executive Director Gary Amoroso testified on behalf of the management end of the school equation (SEE is included in that set of groups).  It's a very difficult issue.  Everyone understands the value of the hourly employees and they have clearly stepped up as schools have had to convert to distance learning and would like to be in a position to see them made whole, but the looming financial challenges that school districts will be facing may make that difficult.  Hence, the tension.

Representative Ron Kresha asked the question that everyone must ponder as we work through the crisis is (and I paraphrase) "What decisions will need to be made when we are staring at a considerable budget deficit next biennium?"  Minnesota's state budget forecast--like budget forecast everywhere--have gone straight South since the pandemic and the short- and medium-term economic outlooks are troubling.  All indications are that there will be a considerable budget deficit when the Legislature convenes in 2021 and if we turn back the clock a decade, we can all remember the difficulties (with a state shutdown mixed in) in trying to put together state budgets during that stretch.  Stay tuned.  The immediate task is to protect revenues for the remainder of this biennium before we even think about that rocky road.

The Latest.  I neglected to include Governor Walz' Executive Order relating to education in my last entry, so here it is:  Executive Order 20-19.  This order extends the distance learning directive until May 1, 2020.  Distance learning officially began today and I am certain many of you are experiencing "first day of school" issues.  These are trying times, but I know that school officials from top-to-bottom are up to meeting the challenges associated with this unprecedented pandemic.

The Legislature was slated to return to work on April 14, but given the Presidents new guidelines on social distancing that stretch to April 30, full resumption of legislative operations on April 14 becomes less likely.  There has been talk of somehow trying to hold committee meetings online, but incorporating comprehensive public input in such a system would be challenging.  In terms of timeline, again it's important to note that the regular legislative session must adjourn on Monday, May 18.

Legislative Passes COVID-19 Response Bill.  If you live long enough, you'll see just about anything and what I witnessed today was unprecedented in the 44 years I've been around the Legislature.  I've seen sessions held in makeshift facilities because of the Capitol restoration.  I've seen six special sessions over a two year period.  But what happened today with the passage of HF 4531 was much different and, given the circumstances, pretty amazing.  Due to spread of COVID-19, the both houses of the Legislature observed social distancing guidelines, with legislators voting in shifts or remotely.  The $330 million bill largely concentrates on the health and human services sector, with $200,000 dedicated to the COVID-19 fund which is established to "protect Minnesota citizens" and "maintain state government operations" during the peacetime emergency period.  Expenditures and transfers from the fund will be governed by a legislative task force comprised of ten legislators (five from the Senate and five from the House) that will approve, reject, or take no action on proposals made by the Administration.  A negative decision by the task force prevents the revenue in the proposal from being expended or transferred.

Other items that are included in the bill are:

• $40 million for the Department of Energy and Economic Development for business assistance.
• $71 million for the Department of Human Services for a variety of programs ($30.0 million for emergency childcare, $26.5 million for assistance to the homeless population, $9.0 million for food shelves, and $5.5 million for housing).
• $11 million for Minnesota's Native American tribal governments.

The final votes on the bill were 67-0 in the Senate and 99-4 in the House.  Even with the lop-sided votes, there were concerns over how the bill was constructed, as circumstances dictated a decision-making process where it was impossible to incorporate the traditional committee process and substantial input from the community.

One issue that was not addressed by today's bill is that of education.  The House has been working on an amendment that would assure hourly and contract employees--who have been on the front lines in helping provide childcare and helping districts prepare for distance learning--will be paid during the distance learning period along with a number of provisions that would make certain school district funding is stable, but the education issue was not included in today's legislation, leaving a number of key funding issues up in the air for the time being.  Schools have been (and will be facing) a number of difficult challenges as reaction to the pandemic continues and some level of certainty surrounding the funding issue will be crucial.

MDE Resources.  I know many of you are participating in the superintendents' calls and getting up-to-date answers on many of the emerging issues that will be in front of schools as they sail into these uncharted waters.  Here is a link to MDE's COVID-19 resource page:  MDE COVID-19 Updates.  Answers on the various issue areas can be found in the column on the left hand margin.  An area that bears close scrutiny is that of special education, which is complicated enough in the regular setting.  Issues surrounding student confidentiality and due process may be particularly thorny and today's update on the site includes guidance on a number of special education-related issues:  Special Education COVID-19 Resources

My Moment on the Soapbox.

As the state embarks on its voyage into distance learning next Monday, I am reminded of how many times decision-makers have been reminded of how Minnesota's commitment to broadband accessibility has yet to reach all corners of the state.  There have been efforts to improve connectivity throughout the state, but there are so many communities (and some of these communities aren't geographically remote and within an hour of the metropolitan area) where digital access is extremely limited.  In a number of these communities, the school is the place where access is assured and the strongest, but guess what?  School buildings are now closed and many students working from home don't have reliable (in many cases, any) broadband service.  I fully understand the argument that cautions investment in a technology where rapid progress makes what appears sensible one day outdated the next, but too many Minnesota students still lack basic access to what will be the primary means of delivering educational services for the next month.

A Couple of Quick Notes.  I hope as many of you as can are taking advantage of the resources being offered by the Minnesota Department of Education.  You should check out the COVIG-19 Page on the MDE website.  There was a Q&A page posted today that fielded a number of questions from the field.  The unprecedented nature of the crisis we find ourselves in makes it difficult to answer every question that will arise, but the guidance being given is timely.

Here is a link to the MDE Coronavirus Information Page.  Scroll down to the Q&A, which was first posted yesterday and will be updated with new information regularly:  MDE COVID-19 Updates 

National Outlook.  Education Week has been running a variety of interesting features following the national COVID-19 outbreak.  I find this map showing how various states are dealing with the issue of whether to close schools (and for how long).  It should be noted in which might be a harbinger that Kansas has closed schools for the remainder of the school year with all instruction taking place online from this point forward.

Map: Coronavirus and School Closures

New Legislative Arrangements.  Given the COVID-19 precautions that are taking root across the state, the Minnesota Legislature will be adjusting its business practices over the next month.  Through April 14, the Legislature will be meeting on an on-call basis.  It appears that there will be committee meetings, but those meetings will be held in spaces where six-feet spaces between participants can be maintained.  There is also an agreement that all caucuses must agree on legislation to be discussed.  It's unclear whether that means bills brought to the floors of the House and Senate (or in committees in either House) must be, in effect, pre-confereed so that the content is the same in both bodies.  More details will be forthcoming, but here is the release from the House of Representatives on the decision.

Precaution: Legislature to be ‘on-call’ for four weeks

More Information on Statewide School Closure:  I have linked below the documents prepared by the Minnesota Department of Education to answer questions and provide guidance for local school districts, students, and parents related to the Executive Order relating to school closures issued by Governor Walz today.  As was stated at the press conference, it is impossible to foresee all the issues that may arise and there may additional advice and guidance in the days ahead, but this should serve as a solid hub from which emerging issues can be accommodated.

Here is a link to the Minnesota Department of Education web page with additional information.  Note that the 3/15 links relate directly tot the Governor's press conference this morning.  The most relevant document is entitled:  School Closure Guidance for Public School Districts and Charter Schools

Minnesota Department of Education Covid-19 Resource Page

Addendum to Previous Entry:  Reactions to the Governor's decision to close schools are taking shape.  Here is the reaction from the Senate DFL Minority Leader Susan Kent through an Instagram post:  Senate DFL Reaction to School Closures

Governor Ordering School Closure Beginning Wednesday, March 18.  The story did not appear in the Sunday paper, but it is on the online edition of the Minneapolis StarTribune.  Governor Walz has ordered schools to close beginning on Wednesday, March 18, with the statewide closure to last until Friday, March 27.  I am posting the news story from that edition of the paper along with a copy of the Executive Order Governor Walz will issue.  There are obviously a lot of issues that will crop up and answers will be likely be provided over time as not every complication can be envisioned.  Stay tuned.

Governor Walz Executive Order on Closure of Schools

StarTribune: Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz says K-12 schools closing; state now has 35 confirmed cases of COVID-19

Coronavirus Challenges.  The spreading Coronavirus is just starting to have a ripple effect on school systems throughout the nation.  As of early this afternoon, six states--Maryland, Michigan, New Mexico, Ohio, Oregon, and West Virginia--have closed schools within their boundaries.  Additionally, the Governor of Kentucky has recommended that all schools close, but there has been no formal action forcing that decision.  Many large urban school districts have also decided to close for the time being.  Among these districts are Atlanta, Austin (TX), Denver, Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, and Washington, D.C.  Closer to home, the Robbinsdale district has closed.  As far as statewide action in Minnesota, that is a developing story, which is to be expected given that we are in uncharted territory. 

Minnesota Department of Education Deputy Commissioner Heather Mueller (shown above) answered questions regarding how the state will proceed on this matter at Friday morning's general session of the Minnesota Association of School Administrators' Spring Conference.  The Q-and-A session took place after information was presented by the Minnesota Department of Health through a phone broadcast to conference participants.  Given the nature of what is happening and the fact that each district in Minnesota faces different challenges, it is extremely difficult to give definitive answers as the extent of the spread of the virus widens.  That said, Deputy Commissioner Mueller did an excellent job in gathering the wide range of issues facing Minnesota school districts as they deal with students and staff.

As we have seen in the past week, major entertainment and sporting events have been cancelled until further notice at both the professional and amateur levels.  By doing this, it is hoped that the virus will be contained more effectively than what has been the case in other countries by "flattening the curve" of transmission through social distancing.  These are challenging times and I will keep my eye out for information that may be valuable to you as you face the issues related to the coronavirus locally.

Minnesota Department of Health COVID-19 Information Page

Minnesota Department of Education COVID-19 Information Page

Governor's Supplemental Budget Released.  Governor Walz released his supplemental budget for the 2020 session yesterday and it contains a number of initiatives relating to education.  The level of budget recommendations for the remainder of this biennium is $256.9 million, with budget commitments in the next biennium of $268.5 million.  While not as robust as many non-budget year supplemental budgets in the past few decades, it is larger than I thought it would be given what I was hearing from a number of policymakers.

E-12 education gets a boost in the budget, particularly in the area of funding for student support staff (school social workers, school psychologists, school counselors, school nurses, and school chemical health counselors).  The budget calls for $20 million for the 2020-21 school year in additional funding that would be distributed to all school districts for hiring or purchasing student support personnel.  That amount would increase to $25 million in the 2021-22 school year and $27 million in the 2022-23 school year.  This is not a re-establishment of the grant program that was passed in 2016.  These dollars will flow to all school districts.  I have not seen the language of the proposal to know details beyond that.

The budget also includes the following recommendations for the E-12 system:

• $1.5 million this year and annually in the base going forward for technology upgrades at MDE.
• $2.0 million this year and annually in the base going forward for full-service community schools.
• $1.0 million this year and annually in the base going forward for hiring equity coaches to provide staff development to teachers and other staff on racial consciousness.
• $880,000 this year and $430,000 annually in the base going forward for providing support to districts in helping support the new standards related to understanding the value and contributions of tribal nations.
• $377,000 this year and $377,000 annually in the base going forward to restore Head Start program funding to Native American tribal programs.

As stated above, I have yet to see the language accompanying the budget recommendations and I will provide those details once they are available.

Here is a link to the Management and Budget Web Page that provides information across all budget categories:

2020-21 Supplemental Budget Recommendations--Al Funds By Agency

Same Goal, Different Paths.  Friday saw two sessions--one in the House and one in the Senate--at which two different approaches were posited to Minnesota's stubborn achievement and opportunity gaps.  All parties (in both political parties) believe addressing these gaps are among the highest--probably the highest--priorities that needs to be addressed in Minnesota's E-12 education system.  The Senate spent Friday morning listening to a presentation by former Justice Alan Page and Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis President Neil Kashkari discuss the constitutional amendment (introduced as SF 3977/HF 3658) they have promoted for thhe past several months.  Witnesses on both sides of the issue provided testimony during the two-hour hearing.  It is difficult to discern how much tangible support for the amendment has at this juncture with skepticism (polite, but skepticism nonetheless) coming from both sides of the political aisle.  The Senate took no action at Friday's hearing and the House (which I will write about in greater detail in a minute) has not had a formal hearing on the proposal.

I'm not a constitutional expert, but I've always viewed constitutions--both Federal and State--as fence posts that determine the available space for policy.  Passing the amendment would surely move the posts, but it's difficult to see whether the policy space would be altered.  The big difference between the current constitutional clause and the proposed clause is it moves beyond "system" to formalizing the fundamental right (currently affirmed in case law) to an education by placing it in the constitution and replacing general/uniform/thorough/efficient with a guarantee of a "quality" education.  The notion of quality is where things become slippery and it would likely take a generation to determine what that may mean.  Stay tuned because I think it's safe to say that discussion of this effort will continue throughout the session.

The House spent the entire day in a symposium dedicated to description of and possible remedies to the achievement and opportunity gaps.  The morning featured an outline of some of the major issues that contribute to the achievement and opportunity gaps, with presentations from State Demographer Susan Brower, Kathleen Annette from the Blandin Foundation, Dr. Michael Rodriguez from the University of Minnesota, Dr. Bernadeia Johnson from Minnesota State-Mankato University, and Daniel Thatcher from the National Conference on State Legislatures.  Talk shifted in the afternoon, with Justice Page and President Kashkari crossing the street from the Minnesota Senate Building to the State Office Building to once again present their case for a constitutional change and a number of panels--including one featuring a set of Minnesota superintendents outlining their efforts to close the achievement gap. 

To the right we see Justice Page and President Kashkari providing their perspectives on the proposed constitutional amendment.  Their presentation last half an hour and there was little in the way of substantive discussion of the proposal.

On the left we see Fridley superintendent Dr. Kim Heil, along with four other Minnesota superintendents from both the metropolitan area and Rochester, speaking of steps they have taken--including participation in the Reimagisne Minnesota Project that is working to create increased educational opportunities for students, especially those in highly diverse metropolitan and outstate districts.

The week ahead will certainly be a busy one.  The first committee deadline is Friday, March 13, so if policy bills don't clear a policy committee in either the House or Senate by that date, Jason will have put them out of their misery.  Finance committees have until Friday, April 3, to hear finance-related bills.  So buckle up and avoid guys wearing hockey masks.

More Great Work from the Legislative Auditor.  The Office of the Legislative Auditor released its report on the compensatory education program today and presented the report to the House Education Finance Division.  Jodie Hauer from the Program Evaluation Division and Assistant Legislative Auditor Judy Randall presented the study.  As with all the work done by the Office of the Legislative Auditor, the report was comprehensive and well documented.  Many of the discussions surrounding the program have been around since the establishment of the compensatory revenue formula in 1987.  The demography of the student population has changed dramatically since the late-1980s and the compensatory revenue program has tried to keep pace with these changes.  Questions of transparency and appropriate use of the revenue have cropped up at several points in the past and the report dives into some of these issues in detail.  As the state moves forward, narrowing the achievement gap between white students and their peers in the various populations of color is at or near the top of the list of issues that must be addressed.  Having a compensatory formula that works will be crucial if this goal is to be met and this report should lay the groundwork for a fruitful debate on what the program should look like.

Here is a link to the report page in the Office of the Legislative Auditor:  OLA Report on Compensatory Revenue (Report Links in Right Hand Column)

School Safety Revenue Proposal Heard in Senate.  The Senate E-12 Finance and Policy Committee heard Senator Carla Nelson's SF 3629 this afternoon.  SF 3629 would extend the one-time school safety revenue that was passed last session one more year and extend eligibility for the revenue to the intermediate districts, rural education cooperatives, charter schools, and private schools.  In a year when additional revenue for schools may be difficult to come by, school safety may be the one area where the spirit of bipartisanship and willingness to spend may coincide to the extent a positive result can be reached.  Below is a link to the spreadsheet that shows the amount of revenue each district would receive under the bill.

SF 3629 Data Run (Total Revenue is Column K)

A Quick Run-Through on the Last Two Days.  We are being treated to a full slate of education-related hearings with the Senate E-12 Finance and Policy Committee meeting yesterday and the House Education Finance Division and Education Policy Committee meeting today.  The Senate tackled several bills on Monday, the most notable bill heard was Senator Nelson's SF 3351, a bill that would allow private duty nurses to accompany students on school grounds under doctor's orders relating to the student.  There are a few concerns regarding that bill, but that's not the big story regarding what happened yesterday.  Senator Nelson amended two provisions--bills that actually fell by the wayside at the end of last session--onto SF 3351.  The first provision would allow districts to serve special education students with IEPs in a non-related area to receive services under ADSIS programs.  The second would allow districts to perform functional behavioral assessments as a stand-alone and not require them to be part of a comprehensive evaluation of a students.  What this move signals is an attempt to find a way to move non-controversial (or relatively non-controversial) measures through the Legislature this year and not have them get caught up in an uncertain end-of-session scenario.  As you recall, a lot of policy initiatives died in 2018 because they were contained in the nearly 1,000-page supplemental budget and policy bill that the Governor vetoed.  The fact those measures died gummed up the works last session, as most of them came back again and given the change in control of the House, many had to be re-heard and go through the process again.  Of the bills now contained in SF 3351, only the ADSIS provision has been heard in the House and it is now on the House floor after gaining committee approval.  There are a number of avenues that can be pursued, but it's a positive sign that the House and Senate are trying to find ways to move non-controversial items through the process.  Another bill heard on Monday would extend districts' ability to utilize E-learning days.  That bill is Senator Paul Anderson's SF 2259.

The House Education Finance Committee spent its morning on three bills that were considered last session, but did not make it into the final budget agreement.  Of these, the most notable bill is Representative Rena Moran's HF 3356, a bill that would provide grants to school districts to address trauma issues.  This year's bill is slightly different than the version considered last session, but the basic thought behind the bill remains the same:  childhood trauma has become a major issue in many schools and this grant program would help provide needed staff development and other services to address the effects of trauma.  The House Education Policy Committee heard five bills, the two most prominent bills were authored by Representative Heather Edelson.  HF 3106 would create a standardized assessment task force and HF 3107 would allow an innovation zone partner district to use a nationally-recognized high school academic assessment (likely the ACT) instead of the MCAs.

February Forecast In and It's More Good News.  Minnesota Management and Budget released its February forecast today and the numbers show the state has added $181 million to the projected surplus for the remainder of the biennium bringing the total to just over $1.5 billion.  Legislative battle lines, already drawn last week, appear to have been fortified by the news, with Republicans calling for tax cuts and DFLers advocating increased spending focused on early childhood programs.  The Governor has not given a comprehensive response to the uptick (that will likely be coming in the next week, expressed by his supplemental budget proposal). It's always important to remember that the forecast is merely that:  a forecast.  The trends that have contributed to the forecast number were all prior to the spread of the coronavirus, which has driven the stock market sharply downward this week and may create economic shockwaves that could slow growth and drive future forecasts downward.  Given the possible lingering economic effects related to the coronavirus, I wouldn't be surprised to see caution become the watchword for the remainder of the 2020 legislative session.

Excellent Hearing on English Learner Formula Today.  The House Education Finance Division hearing HF 448--Representative Kaohly Her's bill that would dramatically increase the English Learner formula--this morning.  I have always believed that the English Learner formula is the education funding formula with the greatest amount of formula "integrity."  The recipients of English Language instruction are easily identified.  The staff used to provide the instruction to these students is likewise clearly identifiable.  The exit criteria for students to leave the program are also clear.  There is no other formula in Minnesota's array of education funding streams in which costs can be so readily and accurately traced.  The problem is that the English Learner formula is so woefully underfunded.  There is currently a shortfall in the amount of revenue provided for language instruction to English Learners and the reported costs of providing these services exceeding $100 million per year and these costs fall on districts throughout the state.  Whether there will be money to at least partially correct this unfortunate funding shortfall this year remains to be seen, but this issue was also discussed at length by the Education Funding Working Group currently developing funding proposals for the 2021 legislative session and hopefully addressing this issue will be near the top of the list in that group's recommendations.

Senate Equalization Proposal.  I reported earlier in the week that the Senate Republican caucus has included referendum equalization in its comprehensive tax relief package and that proposal was introduced as legislation--SF 3533--on Monday, February 24.  It's the first section of that bill, so it is easy to find.  The proposal is very straightforward.  It raises the first tier equalizing factor from $567,000 per pupil of referendum market value to $650,000 per resident pupil unit of referendum market value.  The second tier equalizing factor is raised from $290,000 of referendum market value per resident pupil unit to $320,000 of referendum market value per resident pupil unit.  The proposal costs approximately $19 million per year and it would come in the form of property tax relief.  Thanks should go to Senate Tax Chair Senator Roger Chamberlain who has been a strong and consistent supporter of referendum equalization.  Hopefully, more progress can be made this session to augment that $10 million put into the program in 2019.

Another Horrid and Avoidable Student Injury.  Less than 48 hours after the Senate Transportation Committee held a compelling hearing complete with chilling testimony and video evidence relating to drivers ignoring school bus stop-arms, a 7-year-old St. Paul student lies in critical condition in a St. Paul hospital after a driver ignored a school bus with the stop-arm extended and the 8-way warning lights activated and stuck the student in the crosswalk on his way to boarding the bus.  As I wrote earlier in the week, I have worked on this issue for quite a long time and I constantly marvel at the fact that there are over 100,000 stop-arm violations per year (relatively few are prosecuted) and the number of violations shows no indication of abating.  In Tuesday's hearing, it was obvious there may be momentum to funding an extensive public education program to bring greater awareness to the stop-arm law and the today's unfortunate incident is evidence that it is needed and needed now.

StarTribune: St. Paul 7-year-old critical after he's struck while walking to his bus

WCCO TV: Boy, 7, Critically Injured By Motorist While Attempting To Board School Bus, Driver Cooperating With Police

School Bus Safety Hearing was Awesome!  The Senate Transportation Committee held a riveting meeting on Tuesday on the issue of school bus safety and the plague of stop-arm violations that threaten the safety of students throughout Minnesota.  The hearing featured a number of videos taken from school bus cameras that show serial stop-arm violations, some of which almost killed students boarding the bus.  Those videos will be linked in the news stories I am including in this entry.

The testimony provided by transportation directors, bus contractors, and bus drivers was extremely compelling.  Jim Perrotti--a school bus driver for the Zumbrota-Mazeppa school district--was direct and emotional when describing the near-miss of a student by a speeding driver who ignored an extended stop-arm.  Video of that incident is included in the story below.  There was also testimony from a group from Paynesville regarding an incident where a semi-truck passed a bus on the right--the side of the bus where students enter the vehicle--when a student was boarding (also featured in a video below).  Edina transportation director David White described a recent incident when a student was hit by a driver ignoring an extended stop-arm.  The student survived, but did sustain injuries.

Senator Rich Draheim is the author of SF 1050, a bill that would appropriate $50,000 for the creation of a school bus stop-arm awareness program through the development of a set of public service announcements aimed at educating drivers on this important issue.  There was $40,000 for this purpose in the 2018 mega-ginormous thousand-page supplemental funding and policy bill that was vetoed by Governor Dayton and hopefully the supplemental funding and policy bills will be constructed in a way that will make gubernatorial approval less complicated.

I have worked with the student transportation industry for over 20 years and I can say that the entire industry is gratified by the interest shown over the past few sessions on the issue of school bus safety and in particular, the stop-arm violation issue.  There are over 100,000 stop-arm violations each year in Minnesota, but only a small fraction of those are prosecuted due to the difficulty of getting license plate numbers on the offending vehicles.  Enhanced technology and the installation of cameras on stop-arms would help with that, but a comprehensive driver-education effort may yield even better results.  I don't know if anything can be done about driver arrogance, but an education program would help with driver ignorance.  Hopefully, the House Transportation Committee will take up the companion to SF 1050--HF 1010 authored by Representative Alice Hausman--and fund this important program.

Here is news coverage of yesterday's hearing.  Several of the videos are quite chilling, so be forewarned.

Duluth News-Tribune: 'It's a miracle a kid hasn't been killed': Lawmakers look to increase school bus safety awareness

StarTribune: Legislators want to improve school bus safety

WCCO TV: Minnesota Senate Republicans Say Many Drivers Are Ignoring School Bus Stop Arms

In closing, I just wanted to give everyone a quick reminder that today (Wednesday) is National School Bus Driver Appreciation Day, so whether you're a student, parent, teacher, or school administrator, take some time to recognize your bus drivers for the difficult job they do.  From the testimony presented at yesterday's hearing, it's obvious how much bus drivers care about the important job they perform.  It's important to remember that for many students, the bus driver is the first school employee they see in the morning and the last one they see at the end of the school day.  They set the tone and they set it well, so how about some love for your school bus drivers.

Interesting Hearing in Senate Today.  The Senate E-12 Finance and Policy Committee tackled the reading issue today and the key word (or acronym) is LETRS.  LETRS stands for Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling.  LETRS is a nationally-recognized suite of staff development products that has shown to help improve reading scores in states and school districts where it is employed.

The hearing started out with a reports from Dr. Christy Hovanetz, Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Excellence in Education, and Dr. Amy Schulting, the Dyslexia Specialist at the Minnesota Department of Education.  The verdict in both reports is that Minnesota's scores are solid for white students, but scores for students of color lag behind national averages, which is the primary contributor to the achievement gap that exists in Minnesota.

Given this background, Senator (and Committee Chair) Carla Nelson has introduced SF 2989 and SF 2990, bills that would direct revenue toward LETRS from the compensatory formula and literacy incentive aid to provide staff development to all teachers of reading in the state.  It is important to note that the portion of the compensatory formula that would be re-directed is currently dedicated toward extended time aid.  As was made clear during the hearing, it is not compensatory revenue in its entirety.  This is different from the literacy incentive aid, all of which would go toward these staff development efforts.  After adopting some clarifying amendments, Senator Nelson combined her two bills into one bill and will move it forward in that fashion.  It is also important to point out that this bill has no price tag as it only changes policy as it relates to a portion of a district's compensatory revenue and it's literacy incentive aid.

The committee also heard Senator Roger Chamberlain's bill--SF 3187--that would appropriate $1,000,000 to be dispensed to districts in the form of grants to provide staff development under LETRS.

It all looks good.  One problem that might occur is that the statutes rarely designate a provider when creating a grant program.  There are creative ways around that problem, but it is doubtful (at least from my experience) that there would be a mandate that spelled out LETRS as the provider.

Here is a link to the LETRS program.  The program is a bit on the pricey side when it comes to cost/teacher, but there is no question that it is highly regarded and is showing results where employed.

LETRS

Constitutional Amendment Introduced in the House.  It seems like just yesterday (Hey! It was just yesterday.) when I wrote that the proposed constitutional amendment promoted by retired Justice Alan Page and Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis President Neil Kashkari had yet to be introduced.  Voila!  It was introduced today as HF 3658, with St. Paul area Representative Rena Moran serving as chief author.  There are 33 authors and 25 are Republicans.  I don't know the calculus on that and it will be interesting to see the mix of Senate authorship.  Stay tuned.

Second Week Highlights.  It's the time in the non-budget year of the biennium when things are moving both slowly and quickly at the same time.  There hasn't been a lot of talk about funding across the entire budget, which is to be expected in the non-budget year.  The February forecast comes out in the next week or so and all expectations are that the budget numbers will remain favorable, especially for the remainder of this biennium.  The dicey part is projecting budget numbers into the next biennium, where up to this point, the cost of inflation absorbs almost all of the projected surplus.  Both sides are proposing items--tax cuts in the Senate, increases in spending (especially in the area of early childhood) in the House--and it remains to be seen how those differences can be reconciled.  It further remains to be seen what the Governor will propose as part of his supplemental budget, which is rumored to be very modest.

The Senate E-12 Finance and Policy Committee heard from retired Minnesota Supreme Court Justice Alan Page and Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis President Neil Kashkari provided a brief presentation on the proposed constitutional amendment they have been promoting last Monday.  There wasn't a lot of discussion of the proposal and while it is early in the session, the groundwork for serious legislative discussion has yet to be laid.  There's plenty of time left in the session, but a bill with the amendment's proposed language has yet to be introduced and the first policy committee deadline falls on March 13, leaving only three weeks for it to remain alive (at least formally) during the 2020 legislative session.  Not meeting the committee deadline wouldn't necessarily kill the proposal, but given that there does not seem to be universal acceptance of the approach and the possibility of amendment and negotiation between the House and Senate if the proposal were to pass each house of the Legislature in a different form makes the amendment's prospects a bit dicey at the current time.  Again, just because it sits where it does right now doesn't preclude it getting moved--and moved successfully--during the 2020 session.  It just makes passage more unlikely with each passing day.

The Senate also received a comprehensive presentation on Minnesota's education funding framework and how it stacks up when compared to the rate of inflation and the levels of funding in other states.  On Wednesday, the committee heard from a variety of "turnaround" schools that have shown dramatic improvements in academic performance.

The House Education Finance Division has spent its hearing receiving testimony from organizations that received grants last session.  The testimony has been quite interesting and has shown that good things can happen when creative approaches to education are funded.

The House Education Policy Committee has been taking testimony on individual bills that may either find their way into an omnibus education bill or travel on their own to the House floor.  Compelling testimony was heard on Wednesday in support of Representative Mary Kunesh-Podein's HF 3201, which would expand the Teachers of Color Act by providing additional funding to put more people of color in front of Minnesota students.  On Tuesday, the committee spent considerable time on Representative Heather Edelson's bills relating to the prevention of vaping.  Representative Edelson's HF 3164 would expend $250,000 for grants to individual school districts to discourage vaping.  Her HF 3166 would require school districts to provide instruction to make students aware of vaping and to prevent its use.

Attention on Equalization.  It's been a good week for the topic of equalization. Whether anything comes of the welcome attention remains to be seen, the issue did come up in two separate venues last week.  On Thursday night at the Minnesota Department of Education's session of the Education Finance Working Group, South St. Paul superintendent Dave Webb and Finance Director Aaron Bushberger gave a stellar presentation on the issue, providing a great example of the disadvantage property taxpayers in low property wealth districts face when attempting to augment state funding for operations or for building projects.  Kudos to both of them on a job well done.

The next day, the Senate Republican caucus announced that referendum equalization will be part of their $1.3 billion tax relief proposal they hope to pass during the 2020 legislative session.  The linked article from the StarTribune (Minnesota Senate GOP: Turn surplus into tax cuts) doesn't mention equalization, but in conversations with Senate staff, the equalization effort would spend approximately $20 million per year and would give districts the option of using either resident pupil units or pupil units served when calculating their levy ratio.  Here is the press release outlining the proposal:  Get your billion back, Minnesota!

The pace will be picking up in the next two weeks as the first committee deadline is March 6.  That likely means some night meetings to get as much legislation through their policy committees by this deadline.  As I said above in my discussion of the proposed constitutional amendment, missing the deadline isn't fatal, but it usually puts the subject in the legislative equivalent of the intensive care unit.  I hope to provide more insight as things take shape.