Wall-to-Wall Wednesday.  Wednesday is the day when all of the education-related committees meet.  House Education Funding leads off at 10:30 AM and goes until noon, when it hands it off to the House Education Policy Committee, which starts at 1:00 PM and runs until 2:30.  After that, things get punted across the street to the Senate, with the Senate E-12 Finance and Policy going from 3:00 until 4:30.  It's early in the session, but priorities seem to be shaping up already as witnessed by today's hearings.

The House Education Funding Committee took up testimony from a panel of superintendents--Astein Osei (St. Louis Park), Stephanie Burrage (Robbinsdale), and Dave Krenz (Austin)--and a panel of special education directors--Melissa Schaller (Intermediate 917), Darren Kermes (Intermediate 288), and Deb Marcotte (Hiawatha Valley Education District).  The focus of the hearing was the complications for the delivery of education services due to the pandemic and how these districts were creative in meeting the challenge.  But even with this creativity, funding gaps and uncertainty exist, some of which the House will suggest be mitigated by  HF 4  (Discussed in Yesterday's Blog Entry) that the Committee will hear tomorrow (Thursday) morning.  It is important to note that HF 4 goes further in correcting the funding downturn resulting directly from the reduced pupil count than the Governor's proposed budget.  It is more than a truism that a dollar can only be spent once and that any revenue used to fill the funding deficit resulting from pandemic will not be available for new initiatives in the coming biennium.  With that in mind, it will be interesting to see how the balance is struck between correcting the funding problems caused by the pandemic for the current school year and any proposed new programs that would be established during this session for next school year and beyond.

The House Education Policy Committee heard another bill authored by Representative Hassan today -- HF 217 -- which proposes to spend just under $45 million over the coming biennium for a variety of programs aimed at increasing the number of teachers of color in Minnesota schools.  While we don't know what targets will look like in the House and Senate, it's safe to assume that both sides will propose something on this issue and the House proposal will likely be larger in dollars and scope.  This will be a high priority and it will be interesting to see where the discussion goes this session.

The Senate E-12 Finance and Policy Committee heard Senator Chamberlain's SF 244 , a bill that would create a grant program for licensed teachers to receive training in the Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling (LETRS) program.  LETRS is a scientifically-based reading program that has shown remarkable results in raising the reading scores of elementary school students throughout the country.  Last session, then-Senate Education Chair Carla Nelson proposed re-directing revenue from the Literacy Incentive Aid program into a program that would require all school districts to take the LETRS training.  Senator Chamberlain's bill dials that back and proposes to spend $1 million in each year of the biennium.  Senator Chamberlain has long been a champion of scientifically-based reading instruction, especially through his work with the dyslexia community and this proposal has considerable support among teachers (at both the elementary/secondary and post-secondary levels) and parents.  

As in the case of teachers of color, I believe the other body (in this case, the House in HF 288 authored by Representative Edelson) will also expend effort in this area.  This is another area where interests will likely mesh, but the extent to which they mesh in terms of resources remains the question.