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First House bill would repay borrowed school funds
Legislators in the newly DFL-controlled House have introduced
the session’s first bills, starting with a proposal to repay a chunk of the
money that state lawmakers borrowed from Minnesota schools to balance the
current budget.
The biennium’s first bill, which often highlights a priority
of the majority party, would give schools about $550 million in funding that
was delayed by lawmakers in an accounting shift. The payment would represent
about half of the $1.1 billion in shifted aid that schools are still owed.
“The DFL Caucus has committed to paying back that shift,
making schools whole financially,” said Rep. Yvonne Selcer (DFL-Minnetonka), a
first-term legislator and the bill’s sponsor. Selcer, a former teacher and
longtime Hopkins School Board member, said that she and many of her DFL
colleagues campaigned on that promise.
HF1, she said, is “a firm down payment
on our commitment.”
It’s unclear how the Legislature would fund the bill.
Lawmakers will have a better sense of the options after February’s updated
state economic forecast, Selcer said.
The bill is “a good start,” said Rep. Kelby Woodard (R-Belle
Plaine), Republican lead on the House Education Finance Committee. “We should
pay the entire shift back right now.”
Last year, the Republican-controlled Legislature passed a
bill that would have paid back some of the borrowed school funds by tapping
into state budget reserves. But DFL leaders objected to using those reserves,
and Gov. Mark Dayton vetoed the bill.
Woodard sponsors
HF53, which would make it harder for the
Legislature to repeat that kind of school borrowing, requiring approval by a
three-fifths majority in the House and Senate.
House members introduced 54 bills on Thursday, including
several that appeared to have strong DFL support. Among them:
•
HF2, a property-tax bill that would create a Homestead
Credit Refund and expand the existing Renter’s Credit;
•
HF3, a bill intended to spur job creation that would
allocate $30 million over two years to the Minnesota Investment Fund;
•
HF4, which would allocate $5 million over two years to the
Minnesota Trade Office, to increase exports;
•
HF5, a bill to establish the Health Insurance Exchange
mandated under the federal Affordable Care Act; and
•
HF13, a proposal to change the process for amending the
Minnesota Constitution, requiring support of two-thirds of the House and Senate,
rather than a majority, to put an amendment before voters.
- Sarah Lemagie
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