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State Representative Kim Norton
100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
651-296-9249
For more information contact: Matt Swenson 651-297-8406
NEWS COLUMN
REP. KIM NORTON'S STATEMENTS FROM HOUSE FLOOR REGARDING E-12 EDUCATION
E-12 EDUCATION OMNIBUS BILL
As a former member of the Rochester School Board, I am extremely pleased with the passage of this bill. If signed into law by the Governor, it will provide an additional $11.5 million over the next biennium for Rochester School District #535. That is very good news for our schools, our students, and our collective future.
More than that, the bill provides almost $14 billion in funding for school districts statewide over the next two years and 9.4% more than the previous biennium. It gives a 3% increase in each year of the biennium, $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.
Also included in the bill are several proposals I authored including a parental involvement component and an initiative to encourage the employment of teachers of color.
Parental involvement is something I worked on extensively in my role on the Rochester School Board and as a parent advocate. Increasing parental involvement in education has a direct correlation with higher student achievement. By allowing individual districts to determine in their policy how best to involve parents in the process while providing a framework on how to do so, we can improve education outcomes in Minnesota with no additional expenditures.
The Teachers of Color initiative is an element of the bill that I feel is extremely important. While ISD535 has worked for years to hire minority staff, there simply isn't a pool coming out of our higher education system. This bill seeks to provide scholar loans for juniors and seniors working toward a teaching degree to encourage students of color to be come teachers and ultimately foster teacher diversity in schools
Overall, I am very pleased with this bill. It adequately addresses the need to properly fund our schools and deals specifically with early interventions and rising special education costs. This bill will significantly improve Minnesota schools. But it will also alleviate the property tax burden on local homeowners, senior citizens, and small business owners who have been bearing the burden of large school levies because of previous state budget cuts in education.
I am hopeful that this bill will be signed into law to provide our schools with the funding they need to provide a bright future for all of our students in Rochester and across this great state.
News Items
- Rep. Norton Selected as Vice Chair of House Health and Human Services Finance Committee - (Posted: 2012-12-14 00:00:00)
- It’s Time for Legislature to Get Back to Basics, Balance the Budget Honestly - (Posted: 2012-12-11 00:00:00)
- Second Saturday Coffee Meeting Date Changed to December 9 - (Posted: 2012-12-03 00:00:00)
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