ST. PAUL – The Minnesota House on Monday approved legislation Rep. Jeff, Howe, R-Rockville, authored to resolve a Q Comp funding issue impacting the Rocori school district – and to prevent repeating history.
Two separate measures Howe authored passed as part of a supplemental omnibus package related to K-12 and higher education.
Q Comp, or Quality Teacher Compensation, is a voluntary program school districts can enter as a way to factor student performance into teacher pay, shifting away from the traditional steps-and-lanes scale. Howe said Rocori applied, was told by the Minnesota Department of Education it would receive state funding, and began implementing the program. Then MDE's Q Comp pool ran dry before Rocori received its funding, shorting the Rocori district.
Howe's bill provides Rocori with its Q Comp funding and also assists Buffalo, which Howe said suffered a similar snafu two straight years. The bill appropriates a total of $240,000 to be split between the two districts.
"These districts acted in good faith and planned as best they could to implement Q Comp despite a lack of response from the agency – only to have MDE back out in the end," Howe said. "The state needs to do a better job of providing good customer service and a separate provision I have authored would hold MDE more accountable in the future."
That second proposal of Howe's stipulates that if MDE miscalculates its Q Comp appropriations and leaves districts short, the agency must adjust internally to make up the difference and provide the funding to districts.
"The intent with this legislation is to incentivize MDE to develop new policies and safeguards to make sure this doesn't happen again," Howe said. "There needs to be more accountability with the agency."
Other K-12 components of the package re-invest $56 million of K-12 cost savings into programs designed to boost learning outcomes for students, expand broadband to students across the state, reduce Minnesota's teacher shortage and increase diversity in the state's teacher workforce.
Higher education provisions are geared toward helping students save money on higher education costs through reforms that reduce the need for remedial classes, as well as increasing awareness of loan-forgiveness programs. The bill also expands higher education opportunities for students with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
Last session, lawmakers passed a fully-funded state budget that saw $525 million in increased funding for K-12 education, and $166 million for Higher Education. The 2015 budget invested historic amounts in early education, increased per-pupil K-12 funding by 2 percent each year, and lowered tuition for thousands of students at MNSCU campuses across the state in 2017.
House Republicans also have proposed tax relief for students with college debt with a first-in-the-nation tax credit for loan payments, as well as a tax credit for families who are saving for their children's higher education costs. Both provisions are under consideration as a part of a tax bill which remains in a conference committee.
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