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Legislative News and Views - Rep. Drew Christensen (R)

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Back to School Column from Rep. Drew Christensen

Tuesday, September 5, 2017

Back to School Column from Rep. Drew Christensen

Labor Day marks the official end of the State Fair and, unfortunately, the unofficial end of summer here in Minnesota. It also marks the beginning of the school year for most students and teachers. As an educator myself, I am excited to get back in the classroom!

As both a product of our Minnesota public schools and an educator in them, I know how important it is to have strong and well-funded schools. That’s why I am so proud of the work we did this session. We followed up on the historic investment made in our schools in the 2015-2016 budget with an increase of another $1.3 billion in this year's 2017-2018 budget. This is the 2 percent yearly increase to the per-pupil formula that our school districts requested.

On top of making sure we properly fund K-12 Education, one of my top priorities was bringing meaningful reforms to make sure every Minnesota child has access to a world-class education.  So in addition to the increase to the per-pupil formula that was requested by our school districts, we included reforms to end the unfair "Last In, First Out" layoff policy for schools. This will make sure we're keeping the best teachers in the classroom. We invested in proven early education programming like pre-K scholarships and school readiness; and overhauled the broken teacher licensure system to help hire more of the best teachers in our schools.

The Pioneer Press hailed our education reform efforts as "one of the biggest reforms to state education policy in recent history.” Well-funded schools combined with these reforms will help to make sure every Minnesota student has access to a world-class education.

Minnesota also has a tax incentive program to defray the costs of school supplies, which can really begin to add up for parents this time of the year. I wanted to make sure parents know Minnesota has both a tax credit and a subtraction for education expenses so make sure to save your receipts.

Most school supplies qualify for the credit or subtraction, including writing utensils, textbooks, and musical instrument rentals. Common items that don’t qualify for the subtraction or credit include school lunches, uniforms, and backpacks. Full details about the Education Subtraction and Credit can be found on the Department of Revenue’s website: http://www.revenue.state.mn.us.

I hope everyone is looking forward to another great school year! As always, let me know if I can be of any assistance or if you would like to schedule a meeting. I am here to serve you!