Things Taking Shape.  We are still a couple of weeks away from the February budget forecast that will provide the Administration and the Legislature with the revenue picture that will dictate the remainder of the 2021 legislative session.  At this point, it appears that the shortfall for the coming biennium will be reduced somewhat, but that the state will still be looking at a deficit and difficult decisions will have to be made.  At this point, it's difficult to know exactly where things will be heading, but hearings being held in the various committees are giving us an inkling of where the two legislative bodies will be heading as they move toward setting their targets and meeting their committee deadlines.

After finishing their review of the Governor's budget yesterday, the House Education Finance Committee took up Representative Zack Stephenson's HF 843 this morning.  HF 843 would increase the general education basic formula by 2% in each of the next two years:  $134 per pupil unit in the 2021-2022 school year and $6,832 per pupil unit in the 2022-2023 school year.  The total budget commitment is just under $400 million over the biennium.  This is richer than the Governor's budget recommendations, which sets the basic formula at $6,633 per pupil unit for the 2021-2022 school year and $6,799 per pupil unit for the 2022-2023 school year, increases of 1% and 2.5% respectively with a total revenue commitment of $300 million.  The committee also heard Representative Dan Wolgamott's HF 156, a bill that would provide funding for a dozen education partnership programs.  These programs supply vital full-service links in the communities they serve and a number of these programs are located in SEE member districts.

The House Education Policy devoted its entire hearing to Representative Sydney Jordan's HF 358.  HF 358 would require the Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) to develop a model curriculum for comprehensive sex education.  This bill was part of the House omnibus education funding bill in 2019, but it did not survive the conference committee process.  Debate on this bill was quite spirited as this is a somewhat controversial bill and school districts would be expected to implement the model curriculum during the 2023-2024 school year.  Districts not wanting to implement the model would have to submit an alternative curriculum for approval by MDE.

The Senate Education Finance and Policy Committee plowed through four bills (well, not exactly plowed as will be explained) during its hearing.  The bulk of the hearing was dedicated to Senator Carla Nelson's SF 2.  SF 2 would rescind the Governor's ability to close schools during the peacetime emergency that has arisen due to COVID-19.  This has been a bone of contention between the Senate Republicans and the Walz Administration pretty much throughout the decision to curtail in-person instruction, especially during the 2020-2021 school year.  It is difficult to tell at times whether the disagreement is over the use of emergency powers in general or the specific decisions the Walz Administration has made concerning schools and businesses.  It will be interesting to see if this bill travels on its own (which appears to be the plan at this point) or is folded into an omnibus bill.  Given that there won't be much, if any, of the 2020-2021 school year left, the effect of limiting gubernatorial powers would have little immediate effect, but one doesn't know if (or for how long) COVID-19 and its variants will stick around and what effect it may have on school opening in the Fall of 2021.

The committee also covered the following bills:

SF 380 (Draheim): Requiring school districts to publish costs related to consulting fees.

SF 438 (Chamberlain):  Suspends academic standards review by MDE for one year.

SF 522 (Clausen):  Requires the Professional Educator Licensing and Standards Board to work with higher education institutions to make sure that online programs (including out-of-state programs) are available to teaching candidates in all licensure areas.  Currently, there are a number of licensure areas for which there is no program at any Minnesota higher education institution.