Still Catching Up!

I only managed to get the Senate bills from the past two weeks entered during my last blogging session, so here are the House bills for the same period.  As I said in that missive, there are a fair number of bills that were introduced, heard, and passed last session that became part of the ill-fated omnibus supplemental appropriations and policy bill vetoed by the Governor that are resurfacing.

House Introductions

Monday, January 14

HF 55 (Jurgens)--Modifyies school lunch provisions.

HF 57 (Erickson)--Education statutes clean-up bill repealing obsolete provisions and making nonsubstantive language changes.

HF 72 (Gunther)--Allows districts to used long term facilities maintenance revenue for building demolition and material removal.

HF 73 (Gunther)--Expands definition of extended time revenue to students enrolled in career and technical courses.

Thursday, January 17

HF 114 (Lucero)--Creates minimum aid guarantee for low per pupil revenue school districts.

HF 115 (Lucero)--Creates new categorical revenue program for districts with low per pupil revenue and low per pupil property wealth.

HF 116 (Freiburg)--Allows school district board to automatically renew existing referendum levy authority.

HF 125 (Bennett)--Establishes evidence-based grant standard for any legislative grant given to an organizations providing services to pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade students.

HF 151 (Urdahl)--Establishes working group to study possible changes to Minnesota's education funding system.

HF 152 (Lueck)--Appropriates money based on general fund forecast to compensate permanent school fund for certain lands.

HF 163 (Youakim)--Makes technical changes to school board vacancy statute.

HF 169 (Daniels)--Modifies charter school admission lotteries.

HF 193 (Murphy)-- Increases special education funding for school districts, reduces the tuition billbacks to resident school districts and adds operating referendum revenue to general education revenue for charter schools

HF 194 (Murphy)--Appears to be identical to HF 193.

HF 196 (Freiburg)--Requires seat belts on newly-purchased school buses.

Tuesday, January 22

HF 207 (O'Neill)--Modifies Monticello special education aid adjustment.

HF 208 (Kunesh-Podein)--Establishes deadline for teacher contract negotiations.

HF 209 (Kunesh-Podein)--Requires schools for report on testing material expenditures.

HF 224 (Sundin)--Requires child safety curriculum.

HF 244 (Claflin)--Requires radon testing for school buildings.

HF 246 (Bennett)--Establishes vocational enrichment program.

HF 247 (Kunesh-Podein)--Establishes grant program to increase student access to licensed media specialists.

HF 248 (Erickson)--Creates grant program to broaden access to music education in rural Minnesota.

HF 249 (Urdahl)--Changes graduation requirements to ensure students are prepared to be capable citizens and participate in the political process.

HF 250 (Kunesh-Podein)--Requires affirmative consent instruction.

Thursday, January 24

HF 292 (Kunesh-Podein)--Provides grant to Girl Scouts River Valley for ConnectZ program.

HF 314 (Youakim)--Allows school districts to start before Labor Day.

HF 323 (Garofalo)--Creates charter school enrollment preference for students living in or near Castle Rock township.

HF 328 (Runbeck)--Requires teacher preparation programs to include instruction on dyslexia.

HF 329 (Runbeck)--Modifies duties of dyslexia specialist at the Minnesota Department of Education.

HF 337 (Davnie)--Authorizes districts to transfer surplus in community education fund to general fund with approval of the Minnesota Commissioner of Education.

In other news.  Erin Golden has been doing some really great reporting for the Minneapolis StarTribune on the education issues that will likely emerge during the 2019 legislative session.  Two weeks ago, she wrote a piece on special education funding (or lack thereof) and just yesterday, she wrote a piece outlining Governor Walz' concern about increasing reliance on voter-approved referendum levies.

The special education article is pretty straightforward (plus includes a quote from me) and the second article recalls the debate we had within SEE during the 1990s as to whether the state should concentrate on making certain that general education revenue was more sufficient to meet districts' needs and greatly limit voter-approved levies while leaving them largely unequalized or to continue to work on equalizing the referendum and debt service levies to provide greater--and fairer--access to voter-approved levies.  The latter approach carried the day in those debates, but I sense in the article that the Governor may want to re-visit that discussion.  Regardless of the direction, the property tax is going to be central if adequate resources are going to be available and SEE will continue to fight for fairness in the application of the property tax.  I'm looking forward to seeing the Governor's recommendations and I am eager to work with him and the Commissioner of Education on making Minnesota's education system both adequate and equitable.

Special Education Article

Walz Referendum Article

Asleep at the Wheel (and not the band by the same name).

It looks like I haven't blogged in a bit so it's time to get back on the stick and report the goings-on at the Legislature.  The first two full weeks of the 2019 session have largely been devoted to introducing new legislators (and new committee chairs) with the process and the viewpoints of the various lobbying organizations.  The education-related committees in both the House and Senate have heard from all of us in the lobbying trade and two funding themes look to be emerging.  The general education basic formula will always receive a lot of attention, but, in addition, special education funding--both in terms of level of funding and distribution--appears to be running neck-and-neck with the basic formula as far as priorities appear to be stacking up.  In addition, there appears to be some appetite to pare back some of Minnesota's special education rules and regulations in an attempt to reduce the paperwork burden on Minnesota's special education teachers and administrators.  Another item of interest is that a number of provisions from last year's vetoed omnibus supplemental budget and policy bill are being introduced again this session.  Given the change in control of the House of Representatives, it will be interesting to see if all of these provisions have the same success in 2019.

Here are the bill introductions from the past two weeks.

Senate

Monday, January 14

SF 94 (Eichorn)--Allows nonpublic students to enroll in PSEO in the 10th grade.

SF 108 (Wklund)--Grant for Works Museum.

SF 109 (Rest)--Allows districts to renew existing referendum authority by board approval.

SF 116 (Clausen)--Requires teacher training to better work with students with dyslexia.

SF 122 (Clausen)--Increases general education formula by 3% and ties formula to inflation.

SF 123 (Clausen)--Requires teacher preparation programs to provide instruction on dyslexia.

SF 136 (Newton)--Allows districts to renew existing referendum authority by board approval.

Thursday, January 17

SF 148 (Dzeidzic)--Requires a school counselor in every school.

SF 159 (Clausen)--Eliminates need to short term objectives on IEPs in some instances.

SF 161 (Clausen)--Prevents public employers from reducing pay for individuals serving on PELSB.

SF 162 (Clausen)--Requires Commissioner of Education to develop child abuse awareness posters.

SF 177 (Bigham)--Requires school safety assessment teams in school districts.

SF188 (Dziedzic)--Requires affirmative consent instruction.

SF 193 (Rest)--Provides for cursive instruction in elementary schools.

SF 196 (Clausen)--Requires teacher preparation programs to include instruction on dyslexia.

SF 201 (Bigham)--Requires radon testing in school buildings.

SF 218 (Dziedzic)--Creates state fund to pay for unreimbursed special education costs.

SF 229 (Eichorn)--Provides funding for reading and math corps at American Indian controlled tribal and grant schools

SF 234 (Wiger)--Provides funding for Race2Reduce water conservation programming.

SF 238 (Housley)--Modifies pupil transportation formula and provides for a teacher transportation working group.

SF 247 (Pratt)--Provides for disposal of unclaimed drugs or medications in schools.

SF 269 (Hayden)--Expands access to driver education programs for low-income students.

Tuesday, January 22

SF 289 (Clausen)--Defines cultural competency for teacher licensure.

SF 292 (Latz)--Increases community education funding.

SF 293 (Nelson)--Requires Commissioner of Education to collaborate on construction and skilled trades counseling.

SF 294 (Nelson)--Requires students receive one course in government and citizenship in grade 11 or 12 beginning with the 2020-2021 school year.

SF 295 (Nelson)--Establishes P-TECH schools.

SF 299 (Chamberlain)--Requires Commissioner of Education to develop an academic achievement rating system.

SF 313 (Bigham)--Requires schools to report on testing material expenditures.

SF 323 (Torres Ray)--Requires affirmative consent instruction.

SF 339 (Hoffman)--Requires child safety curriculum.

SF340 (Draheim)--Provides for transportation of pregnant and parenting students to qualified programs.

SF 355 (Jensen)--Amends mental health education requirements.

SF 369 (Cwodzinski)--Increases funding for school-linked mental health grants, Support our Student grants, and full-service community schools.

SF 370 (B. Anderson)--Special education aid adjustment for Monticello school district.

SF 373 (Hawj)--Requires civics class for high school graduation.

SF 380 (Bigham)--Creates bargaining deadline for teacher contracts.

SF 389 (Pratt)--Authorizes districts to conduct alternative fire drills.

Thursday, January 24

SF 400 (Ruud)--Provides grant to Girl Scouts River Valley for ConnectZ program.

SF 402 (Simonson)--Increases special education formula and reduces tuition billbacks for special education services.  Also provides referendum and local option revenue to charter schools.

SF 403 (Simonson)--Looks like the same language as SF 402.

SF 411 (Kent)--Modifies school lunch provisions.

SF 423 (Utke)--Creates grant program to expand music education across Minnesota.

SF 427 (Little)--Creates enrollment preference for students living in Castle Rock township.

SF 431 (Newton)--Requires adequate levels of counseling services in schools.

SF 482 (Pratt)--Modifies IEP requirements to permit reporting of student performance on statewide assessments.

SF 484 (Rest)--Requires that certain forecasted positive fund balances be used to reduce special education proration.

SF 485 (Nelson)--Provides for competency-based education.

SF 493 (Jasinski)--Modifies charter school admission lotteries.

First Bills of 2019 Introduced.  It's that time of year again when the first set of bills are introduced in the House and Senate.  31 bills were introduced in the House on Thursday and 91 were introduced in the Senate.  One new wrinkle in the House this year is that all funding bills will first be referred to the Ways and Means Committee from which they will be re-referred to the appropriate budget divisions within the Ways and Means structure.  This change raised a few complaints on the first day of session when the House rules were being debated, as the minority believes the new method of bill referral will be less transparent than the practice of previous years when the budget bills were referred to the funding division or committee directly after introduction.  I don't know if this makes the process less transparent, but the possibility exists that an introduction later in the session could be slowed down by the need for an extra referral.  We'll just have to see how it plays out.

With no further adieu, here are the education-related bill introductions with the link to the bill language embedded in the file number:

Senate

SF 7--Nelson--Increases school safety revenue with greater flexibility

SF 14--Wiger--Requires students to take a nationally-normed college entrance test as a requirement for graduation.

SF 15--Goggin--Requires school districts to provide certain access to career options in the military, skilled trades, and manufacturing.

SF 17--Cwodzinski--Requires students take a government and citizenship course in order to graduate.

SF 19--Cwodzinski--Requires students take a personal finance course in order to graduate.

SF 24--Wiger--Increases basic formula by 3% in each year of the coming biennium and additionally ties formula growth to inflation.

SF 25--Wiger--Allows school districts to bond for certain security equipment.

SF 26--Wiger--Increases EL formula (basically doubles formula amount).

SF 27--Wiger--Expands access to innovation zone pilot program.

SF 28--Wiger--Requires school districts to pay cost of college entrance examination for all 11th and 12th grade students.

SF 29--Wiger--Increases equalizing factor for local option revenue program.  No amount designated in bill.

SF 30--Wiger--Increases equalizing factor for operating referenda.  No amount designated in bill.

SF 31--Wiger--Increases equalizing factor for debt service program.  No amount designated in bill.

SF 32--Wiger--Allows districts to use long term facilities maintenance revenue for building modifications that improve school safety.

SF 33--Wiger--Requires assessment for learning readiness for children entering kindergarten.

SF 37--Wiger--Appropriates money for full-service community schools.

SF 49--Wiger--Provides a digital student achievement backpack.

SF 50--Wiger--Proposes $230,000,000 in bonding for school facility safety improvements.

SF 55--Wiger--Increases special education funding and makes changes to special education formula.

SF 81--Wiger--Establishes a Minnesota Reads task force to review literacy programs for children and adults.

House

HF 2--Edelson--Increases revenue for school-linked mental health services, support our students grant program, collaborative urban educator program, full-service community schools, and homework starts at home program.

HF 19--Erickson--Modifies world's best workforce measurements and reports.

HF 20--Erickson--Renumbers statutes for intermediate school districts.

HF 21--Erickson--Surveys teacher preparation programs.

HF 22--Erickson--Modifies student testing provisions.

HF 23--Erickson--Codifies teacher code of ethics in statute and repeals related rule.

Dueling Press Conferences.  

The House DFL Caucus announced its first ten bills at a noon press conference that outline their priorities for the 2019 legislative session.  The picture above features newly-elected Representative Heather Edelson along side Education Funding Division Chair Jim Davnie outlining the education portion of the press conference.  The bill they will be sponsoring aims to provide more mental health and student support services to students throughout Minnesota by expanding access to school-linked mental health services and promoting the addition of school social workers, school psychologists, school nurses, and school counselors in districts throughout the state.  From their comments, they will also be considering expanding the full service community school concept.

Among the other bills included in the DFL priorities will promote paid family leave, attempt to rein in drug and health care prices, and require a more comprehensive system of background checks to purchase firearms in Minnesota.

Here is a link to a story relating to the press conference:  First 10 bills offer glimpse of DFL's ‘Values Agenda’

The Senate Republicans unveiled their first five bills at a press conference yesterday and mental health, including increased access to mental health services in schools, was featured in that discussion.  Below is a video of the press conference.

I Always Follow Orders.  So when an item of click-bait told me to Google my own name (because I would be surprised), I did and I have to admit that I am surprised.  It seems that I am not the only Brad Lundell in the United States and "Iowa Brad Lundell" runs a very successful hog operation in Kiron, Iowa, and is a member of the Odebolt-Arthur-Battle Creek-Ida Grove School District Board.  It's a little late to vote for "Iowa Brad Lundell" as the Iowa Pork Producers Pig Farmer of the Year for 2018, but I hope things turned out well for him in that effort.  Seeing we've been looking at Iowa's use of a local sales tax to finance school facility costs, he would likely be a great source of insight on that matter. , 

And We're Off!

It's a little early in the year for a horse-racing comparison, but the Legislature kicked off (Oops!  Wrong sport!) today with the new majority being sworn in at the House of Representatives and the Senate reconvening.  There is one new Senator--Senator Jeff Howe who replaced former Senator Michelle Fishbach--with the Republicans maintaining control of the body.  Until last week, it appeared it would be a one-vote majority at 34-33, but with Senator Tony Lourey resigning to become Commissioner-designee at the Minnesota Department of Human Services, Republicans have a two-vote edge pending the results of a special election to be held on February 5.

At any rate, it's time to pull out the programs, because as the old saying goes "You don't know the players if you don't have a scorecard."  The links below lead you this year's line-ups in the House and Senate.

House Members

Senate Members

And here are the committee rosters.  As I wrote late last year, the Senate has combined the E-12 Funding and Education Policy Committees into one committee--surprisingly named the Education Funding and Policy Committee--that will be chaired by Senator Carla Nelson.  The House Education Finance Division will fall under the auspices of the House Ways and Means Committee and will be chaired by Representative Jim Davnie.  The House Education Policy Committee will be chaired by Representative Cheryl Youakim.

Here are the links to the aforementioned committees.

Senate E-12 Finance and Policy Committee

House Education Finance Division

House Education Policy Committee

The House has also created a subcommittee that will deal with early childhood issues and will have jurisdiction over budget areas in education and health and human services that provide service to Minnesota families with children who have yet to enter school.  That committee will be chaired by Representative David Pinto.  Below is a link to that committee:

Early Childhood Finance and Policy Division

Frankly, I was surprised that the Legislature convened on a national holiday.  Everyone knows that January 8 is the birthday of  Elvis Presley and somehow the mail was delivered and banks were open today.  Anyway, here's a video of an Elvis television performance from 1956 summing up how I hope the Legislature treats me in 2019.

A Veritable Avalanche of Activity.  I haven't blogged since my election wrap-up and it's high time I write about what has been going on since.  The new House majority has chosen Representative Melissa Hortman as the speaker-designee and barring the unforeseen, she will be the next Speaker of the Minnesota House of Representatives.  Representative Hortman was first elected to the Minnesota House of Representatives in 2004 from the northwest suburban area and served as House Minority Leader during 2017 and 2018 sessions.  Representative Ryan Winkler will serve as House Majority Leader.  Winkler is returning to the Legislature after being out for three years.  First elected in 2006, Winkler resigned from the Legislature in 2015 to accompany his wife to Brussels, Belgium, where she worked for an international hotel group.  In an odd twist of sorts, Winkler is replacing Representative (and Lieutenant Governor-elect) Peggy Flanagan, who replaced him in the special election following his resignation.  Former Speaker Kurt Daudt will serve as Minority Leader.  In a recent development, the third caucus--the New House Republican caucus--consisting of four members (Representatives Munson, Drazkowski, Bahr, and Miller) has been established.  How that plays out in terms of organization and voting remains to be seen.

The new House majority has selected its committee chairs and complete membership rosters will be available soon.  Representative Jim Davnie (DFL-Minneapolis) will be the chair of the Education Funding Committee and Representative Cheryl Youakim (DFL-Hopkins) will be the chair of the House Education Policy Committee.  The House has also established an Early Childhood Committee that will be chaired by Representative Dave Pinto (DFL-St. Paul) that will have jurisdiction over education and human service budget items that deal with the early childhood population.

Here is a link to the committee schedule and list of committees and their respective chairs:  2019 House Committee Information

Things have also changed in the Senate.  The Republican candidate--Jeff Howe--won the special election to replace Senator Michelle Fishbach who resigned to become full-time Lieutenant Governor under Governor Dayton and go on to become Republican gubernatorial Tim Pawlenty's running mate.  With Pawlenty losing in the primary to eventual Republican candidate Jeff Johnson, Fishbach lost her Senate seat.  With the election of Howe, the Republicans retain their 34-33 edge for Senate control.

There has been some shuffling in the Senate Committee structure.  With Senator Fishbach's departure, Senator Jeremy Miller (R-Winona) has become President of the Senate.  In doing so, he gave up his committee chairmanship of the Jobs and Economic Growth Budget and Policy Committee.  Senator Eric Pratt (R-Prior Lake) will take over the chairmanship of that committee, leaving his position as Chair of the Senate Education Policy Committee.  Instead of naming a new chair to the Education Policy Committee, Senate leadership is combining the Education Policy and Education Funding Committees with the single committee being chaired by Senator Carla Nelson (R-Rochester), the current chair of the Education Funding Committee.  No word on how large that committee will be and who will serve as members.  (Dizzy yet?).

Add to the mix a new Governor, which will likely mean new decisionmakers at the Minnesota Department of Education and one can see how one is going to need a scorecard the first few weeks of the 2019 Legislative Session to keep everyone straight.

Billions and . . . .

The November budget forecast was very strong although we cannot channel our inner Carl Sagan and say "billions and billions."  We'll have to settle for a billion and a half.  At any rate, this is very good news.  Most observers believed the budget forecast would be up due to economic performance, but it's also important to remember that with Governor Dayton's veto of the omnibus supplemental appropriations bill and the tax cut/conformity bill last year, that very little in terms of new revenue has vacated the state coffers in the past year.  It is unclear when the Legislature and Governor will tackle the tax conformity bill.  At one point, it appeared it would be done almost immediately after the 2019 session commenced, but recent rumblings have legislative leadership backing away from that strategy.  At any rate, something will get done on this point during the Legislative Session and that will cut into the projected surplus.

It's always important to remember that budget forecasts are just that:  forecasts.  Economic performance in nationally and in Minnesota has accelerated rapidly due to (insert your favorite reason here) over the past twelve months.  Even with the uptick, I expect the Governor and Legislature to proceed cautiously throughout the coming session.  If the economy softens, revenues will diminish and I think the last thing the new DFL majority wants to do is put themselves in a situation where cuts in the base budget will be necessary.

Here is a link to the Management and Budget page outlining last week's forecast:  November Forecast -- Sublinks to Additional Documents on Page

One Last Piece of Election Analysis.  The results were all plausible (although I didn't see the House majority flipping), but I thought the margins of victory for the statewide DFL candidates exceeded what I thought they would be and I wouldn't have been surprised had the Republicans won the Attorney General or State Auditor's race.  But the DFL swept all of the races and the margins for Governor-elect Walz and United States Senator Tina Smith were greater than what most polling showed.

Recent rankings of the congressional districts with the highest levels of voter turnout showed that Minnesota had three (Districts 2, 3, and 5) that ranked in the top twenty nationally.  All of these districts were won by Democrats and that undoubtedly added to the statewide totals for all DFL statewide candidates.  Add to that the high turnout in which DFL challenger Dean Phillips ousted incumbent Congressman Eric Paulson and DFL challenger Angie Craig ousted incumbent Congressman Jason Lewis and one can see another contribution to the new DFL majority in the Minnesota State House of Representatives.  Just another angle in what turned to be a very interesting election.

Always a Classic!

I've used that clip before and I just can't help it if Fred Willard's little schtick from The Mighty Wind is just about the perfect starter when trying to describe a major event and election day is always a major event in Minnesota.

I doubt anyone is clamoring for my insight, but that doesn't mean I am bereft of some observations.  During the SEE regional meetings, I tossed out a number of projections and I did get the big three correct, although the Smith/Housley and Walz/Johnson races tipped more heavily to the DFL side than I thought they would.  Where I was wrong (and obviously wrong in a very big way) is that I thought the Minnesota House of Representatives would remain under Republican control.  

I'm not saying people should or shouldn't have seen this coming, but one has to give credit to the House DFL for running a very clearly defined campaign zeroing in on House districts where Hillary Clinton won the popular vote, getting solid candidates to run in those seats (one of my witticisms is that if there's going to be a wave election, you have to have candidates that can stay on the surfboard), and crafting a message that worked for those districts.  Add to that effort that the close races almost exclusively tipped to the DFL and the seat-swap rose to 18 seats.  But even without those close races tipping blue, the DFL would have picked up the requisite number of seats to take control.  

I was late to the mental dance on this one (hey, it happens when you turn 65!), but in mid-October, I started to get a ton of negative internet ads about DFL candidates in the East Metro suburbs running in seats occupied by and thought safe for Republicans and that made me think that something in the polling must be showing up.

Another contributing factor was the DFL victories in the 2nd and 3rd congressional races.  It wasn't that many years ago that it was pretty difficult to find enough Democrats in Dakota County to fill a school bus, but that has certainly changed over the past few decades and the DFL now holds nine of the twelve House of Representative seats in the county.  Some of this was fueled by performance by the top of the DFL ticket, with Governor-elect Walz winning Dakota County by 12 points and United States Representative-elect Angie Craig winning by 11 points.  A number of the House races were close and there were interesting swings.  Representative Roz Peterson won by five percentage points in 2016 and lost by a similar margin in 2018 to Representative-elect Alice Mann.  Representative Anna Wills won by over 7 percentage points in 2016, but lost this time around by 4 percentage points to Representative-elect John Huot.  The closest race is where Representative-elect Anna Claflin defeated Representative Keith Franke 51% to 49%.  The caveat in that race is that Claflin won the Dakota County portion of that legislative district by 64% to 37%.

A similar pattern was borne out in the 3rd congressional district, with the DFL taking over a number of seats that had been in Republican hands for quite awhile.  Again, these were districts where Hillary Clinton out-polled President Trump in 2016 and United States Representative-elect Dean Phillips ran an aggressive campaign against Congressman Eric Paulsen.  Of the 21 State House districts that are located in part or total in the 3rd congressional district, 17 are now held by DFLers.  Notable flips took place in District 44A, represented by Representative Sarah Anderson for the past twelve years, and 34B, represented by Representative Dennis Smith since 2014 in a seat formerly held by former Speaker of the House Kurt Zellars.

Turnout was very high in this election at 64% of eligible voters participating.  It was the highest mid-term turnout in Minnesota since 2002.  Turnout was down ten percentage points from the 2016 Presidential election, where Minnesota led the nation with just under 75% voter turnout and it will be interesting to see if projected higher turnout will help Republicans in 2020.  It used to be an old saw that higher turnout almost automatically helped Democrats, but given the shifting national political tides we have seen over the past two decades, that may no longer be the case.  

So where does this leave us?  The Senate remains under Republican control, as Republican State Representative Jeff Howe defeated Stearns County Board Member Joe Perske in the bid to fill the open seat resulting from former Senator Michelle Fishbach's retirement and officially filling the spot of Lieutenant Governor.  The Senate Majority Caucus unanimously re-elected Senator Paul Gazelka as their leader.  The new House Majority elected Representative Melissa Hortman, who had served as House Minority Leader when the Republicans were in control, as Speaker and Representative-elect (and former Representative) Ryan Winkler as their Majority Leader.  This gives the House leadership a decidedly suburban feel.  Given the fact that control of the House did hinge on the DFL victories in suburban seats, one can understand the reasoning, but expect the Republicans who control a vast majority of the exurban and deep rural House districts to mention this several times (I will probably lose track at three million) between now and 2020.  The House majority caucus chose Representative Liz Olson of Duluth as their whip.  The Senate minority led by Tom Bakk does not foresee any changes in its leadership structure and while Speaker Kurt Daudt has indicated he may step down, that is not a certainty.

With all the talk of immigration, the President's tweets, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez' speaking schedule, and the plethora of negative advertising employed by both sides during the campaign, the topic of education did not come up a whole lot.  But those of us in SEE saw the results of Bill Morris' polling during his presentation at our September meeting that education was seen as the state's most pressing issue by 27% of poll respondents.  While folks are intent on talking about seats Hillary Clinton won in 2016 and other aspects that are a bit on the inside-baseball side of things, I think it is important to note that for all the talk about all the money that is going out to school districts, costs for school districts are rising faster than the rate of inflation and the 2% and 2% annual increases trumpeted by the Legislature after the 2016 session simply didn't appear substantial to a lot of the voting public.  To me, it recalled the 2006 mid-term election when much of the talk centered on the aftermath of the Iraq War, but suburban seats were won by the DFL largely on the education issue.  There will be a lot on the plate of the new House majority in the session ahead, but I expect education funding (in all of its aspects) to be one of the main courses.

I think a positive for SEE is that Speaker-elect Hortman is familiar with the equalization issue and understands how differences in property wealth dictate differences in educational opportunity.  The suburbs are not monolithic as property wealth differences between different suburban areas are as great as they are statewide, which makes tax policy tricky if it isn't done with a wide scope.  Governor-elect Walz has campaigned on a one Minnesota theme (I see four Minnesotas, but no one has asked me) and our equalization efforts do have statewide application, so hopefully we can find traction in the year ahead as we push for increased referendum and debt service equalization.

And so, we marshal on.  I will be blogging more often now as legislative news will start picking up.  Always feel free to contact me with questions and comments.

Great Meeting in Lindstrom (can't find the umlaut) Last Night.  The Chisago County Board has taken an increasing interest in education and last night they hosted a meeting of local school districts (Chisago Lakes, Forest Lake, North Branch, Rush City, and the St. Croix River Education District) to discuss some possibilities for improved funding for districts in the area.  Each of the districts in attendance falls below the state average in terms of per pupil revenue and the fact that Chisago County is a low property wealth county complicates matters as it is difficult for these districts to pass voter-approved referenda to make up the difference where state revenue falls short.

Deb Griffiths gave her school finance presentation and I urge all SEE members to take advantage of the opportunity to have Deb out to provide your community with this information.  It is clear and concise and shows how school districts throughout the state with few exceptions constantly find themselves behind the funding eight-ball.  It works in multiple venues and Deb's experience in giving the presentation to audiences beyond the school board setting makes it an ideal way for districts to give communities as a whole a better understanding of the funding challenges faced by school districts.

It is truly great to see the Chisago County Board joining the education funding debate and pledging its support to remedying funding and property tax inequities that plague so many members of SEE.  For my part, I want to encourage SEE members to explore the possibility of working with your city councils and county boards and see if synergies like the one happening in Chisago County are possible in your area.

Another Loss to the America's Cultural Mosaic.  Most of you know I'm quite the music fan, having grown up in the 1960's with my transistor radio next to my ear.  Like many of you, I was saddened by the news yesterday of the death of Aretha Franklin.  In honor of The Queen of Soul, here's a great video clip of her in high-powered action.  

A Belated Tribute to Barbara Baker.  

There are very few people still involved with SEE whose service dates back to the era when Barbara Baker was leading the organization.  Back in 1979, Barbara's management company--Baker Research & Consulting--ran the organization and run it she did.  I first met Barbara when I was on Senate Education Committee staff in the late-1980s and I had the pleasure working for her in my first years as a lobbyist in the early-1990s.  To say Barbara was a tenacious advocate for the cause of funding equity understates the case.  She never raised her voice, but she always got her point across firmly and politely.  Barbara was at the helm when the members of SEE (then known as the Association for Stable or Growing School Districts--ASGSD) comprised the plaintiffs in the Skeen v. Minnesota lawsuit and that was an extremely arduous task and one she performed with her usual aplomb.  That effort was an organizational challenge, but Barbara saw the organization through the successful district court decision (in which the plaintiffs won) and the subsequent reversal by the Minnesota Supreme Court.  The day the Supreme Court decision came down, Barbara was disappointed, but refused to sulk.  The same day we had a press statement ready to go and managed somehow to maintain control over discussion of the issue.  No small task, but there was no task that Barbara found too daunting.

On a personal note, I know I wouldn't be where I am today without Barbara and ASGSD taking a chance on me.  Barbara provided me with a lot of guidance on the how-to's of lobbying.  I had an extensive background in the legislative process and a pretty good handle of education finance when I was brought on board, but I lacked the finesse that a good lobbyist needs to succeed and Barbara served as a mentor in helping me acquire those skills.  I will never forget when Barbara and I were meeting with a high-ranking official in Governor Carlson's office to discuss his line-item veto of the first debt service equalization appropriation.  I attempted to explain what we were trying to accomplish when the official stopped me and said something to the effect "Well, that's socialism."  In my younger days, I could go from zero-to-sixty in the spirited debate department and, after the initial shock of the statement, I was about to blow up.  Barbara could see the steam coming out of my ears and before I could say anything, she took control of the conversation and, as was her style, calmly disagreed with the official.  We left the meeting in good shape and afterwards had a good laugh about how I had avoided an embarrassing, and perhaps damaging, situation.  It was one of the many lessons I learned from working with Barbara.

It's not just me that benefited from Barbara's expertise and ability.  People are surprised to learn that the MSBA Delegate Assembly would almost break out in riots--rhetorical and otherwise--when the Skeen lawsuit was in court.  The lawsuit divided school districts in a lot of ways and there were tons of hotly-contested resolutions that were specific and which had winners and losers in terms of the proposed policy effects.  Barbara worked the floor of those sessions and was a magnificent vote-counter.  Those efforts helped keep the equity issue front-and-center in the education funding debate and whatever progress we have made over the almost 40 years that SEE has been in existence are built on the foundation that Barbara and the early SEE pioneers carefully and firmly laid in place.

Here is a link to Barbara's obituary from the StarTribune:  Barbara Anne (Brooke) Baker Obituary

Enough Goofin' Around!  I haven't blogged since the end of the legislative session and yesterday's primary election provides a great opportunity to start it up again.

The surprise in from yesterday's results came in the Republican gubernatorial race.  Most pundits thought the former Governor Tim Pawlenty would win his match-up with Hennepin County Commissioner and 2014 Republican gubernatorial candidate Jeff Johnson and some thought Pawlenty would win quite handily.  The problem with picking primary winners is that with turnout levels much lower than the general election, a particularly motivated block of voters can turn the election.  The Republican party has done quite well over the past couple of decades in getting their endorsed candidate through the primary election successfully.  On the other hand, this is the second consecutive time that the DFL has not gotten its endorsed candidate for Governor to the general election (not counting Governor Dayton's 2014 re-election effort as a sitting incumbent).  I wish I knew for reason for the difference.

For my part, I told many (and the SEE legislative committee is my set of witnesses) that I would be surprised, but not shocked, if Commissioner Johnson defeated former Governor Pawlenty.  Yesterday's result reminded me of the 1990 Republican primary election when endorsed candidate Jon Grunseth was pitted against Arne Carlson.  Carlson went straight to the primary as the moderate alternative, foregoing the endorsement battle that featured Grunseth against David Printy in which Grunseth prevailed.  Carlson was the prohibitive favorite in the primary, with most polls showing him with a comfortable lead (some polls showed him with a lead of nearly twenty points), but, like yesterday, the Republican voters rallied behind the endorsed candidate to put him into the general election . . . but not quite as all of you will recall that a scandal removed Grunseth from the ticket, where he was replaced by Carlson and Carlson defeated incumbent Rudy Perpich to become Governor.  On primary evening in 1990, I remember (having had the opportunity to be in an election night "war room" in what now seems like the horse-and-buggy days of politics) the look on Carlson's face when asked how things were going as the early returns were coming in and realizing (as I had seen that face on other politicians in the past) that things weren't going to turn out well for him.  As an aside, campaigns pick a set of precincts as their target precincts to gauge their chances at success.  There is a science to picking target precincts and if they are chosen accurately, the candidates generally know how they are faring early in the vote tabulation process.  There can still be surprises, but that type of methodology is usually dead on and it likely was again last night.

In yesteday's Morning Take, publisher Blois Olson highlighted the First Congressional District as one to watch.  He conjectured that if State Senator Carla Nelson fared well in her challenge to GOP-endorsed Jim Hagedorn, it may be a harbinger of a similar success for Pawlenty.  Like the statewide GOP primary, Hagedorn prevailed by an almost 2-to-1 margin and while Johnson's victory over Pawlenty didn't reach that level, it was an indication that Republican voters were pretty much going along with their endorsed candidates.

From my perspective, two other elements contributed to Pawlenty's coming up short.  Because the DFL was anticipating a Pawlenty victory, much of the advertising by each candidate tied Pawlenty to policies he pursued during his time as Governor.  While those policies were supported by Republicans, Pawlenty needed to bring other folks to the polls in order to go over the top and the ads probably blunted enthusiasm for another Pawlenty term.  Which leads to the second point, which is (being a bit glib), the "third time is not the charm."  Minnesotans seem to have an aversion to giving Governors a third term, as (again channeling 1990) Rudy Perpich found out.

The DFL side of the night had a lot more drama given events of the last month.  Early polls showed a tight race between Attorney General Lori Swanson and First District Congressman Tim Walz with endorsed candidate Erin Murphy lagging behind.  As I stated earlier, a motivated voting bloc can make all the difference and while Murphy had trouble raising money to get ads on the air until late in the game while both Swanson and Walz had ads on shortly after the DFL state convention.  Murphy's campaign picked up steam as the primary approached, but there was just too much ground to pick up to overtake Walz.  I was somewhat surprised that Swanson fell into third place by the margin that she did, but (and this is getting to be a theme) the voting blocs in primaries can be quite fluid.

As we look toward to the general election, it's important to note that turnout on the DFL side was considerably higher than on the GOP side yesterday.  Some may attribute that to energy on the DFL side emanating from opposition to President Trump.  A word of caution needs to be injected, because in 2010 DFL turnout was similarly higher than on the Republican side and it turned out to be a wave election for the Republicans.  Like this year, 2010 featured a hotly-contested race between DFL-endorsed candidate Margaret Anderson-Kelliher and Mark Dayton.  Dayton narrowly won the general election over then-State Representative (now Congressman) Tom Emmer.  It is tempting to extrapolate general election projections from primary results, but it is a dicey proposition.  One thing to remember is that the party that holds the Presidency usually (but not always) has a difficult time with mid-term elections, which the Obama Administration faced in 2010 and 2014.  DFLers appear to have more energy this year and we will have to see if that translates into general election results and what those results are.

Good to be back on the blog scene.  Let me know your thoughts.