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State Representative Tim Faust
100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
651-296-0518
For more information contact: Chris Shields 651-296-8873
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FAUST CO-AUTHORS $919 MILLION FUNDING PACKAGE FOR SCHOOLS
Bill includes funding for St. Croix River Education District's literacy intervention program
ST. PAUL - State Representative Tim Faust, a member of the House K-12 Finance Committee, announced he would be co-authoring the House's K-12 Education funding bill which invests $919 million in Minnesota schools.
Rep. Faust said that according to early projections, area school districts would see higher-than-average increases in state funding.
"My top priority has always been equitable state funding for our schools, and this is a start." Faust said. "If we're going to set high expectations for our schools we should make the resources to meet those expectations available."
The bulk of the $919 million package gives a 3% increase in base funding for 2008 and 2009, $95 million for voluntary all-day Kindergarten, and $106 million to reduce the gap in unmet special education costs that have eaten into school's general funds. It provides $152 million for a combination of technology upgrades, innovation and reform proposals, gifted and talented programs and funding for school libraries. It also provides property tax relief using a combination of referendum and debt service equalization aid and funding for operating capital.
After Governor Pawlenty invited him to a breakfast conversation recently, Rep. Faust said he's hopeful the Governor would take a close look at the legislation.
"We both agreed that there needs to be efficiency and effectiveness in education," Faust added. "The committee included some of the Governor's budget recommendations and many other fit his guidelines."
Faust specifically cited his legislation included in the bill that provides the St. Croix River Education District with funding to help bring their intervention program statewide as an example.
"If the state adopts SCRED's program, we could be seeing more efficient results while saving millions of taxpayer dollars every year."
Faust was also pleased with $125 million of the bill devoted to property tax relief.
"As much as they want to, I know that people in our area can't afford higher property taxes to pay for schools," Faust added. "This legislation begins to restore the state's commitment to properly fund our schools."
The committee also included Rep. Faust's proposals providing aid for career and technical programming and launching a study on reforming the school funding formula.
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