Saint Paul, Minn. – House Education Finance Chair Jenifer Loon, R-Eden Prairie, expressed dismay at the governor’s veto of bipartisan policies aimed at helping Minnesota kids and schools. This year, the Legislature sent bills to the governor that include up to $135 million in additional education funding, with nearly $80 million of that in Senate File 3656 and House File 947 which were vetoed this morning.
“I am keenly disappointed in the governor’s vetoes. This is political gamesmanship at the expense of Minnesota students and schools,” said Rep. Loon. “His number one priority was helping schools facing budget shortfalls, and we compromised with him to do that—making $225 million available for schools as part of our tax conformity bill. In addition, we advanced critical school safety measures, put more money in every classroom, addressed special education funding shortfalls, and strengthened policies around teacher licensure. With a simple veto, Governor Dayton has thrown all of that good work away, hurting Minnesota students and schools in the process.”
Highlights of measures affected by Governor Dayton’s vetoes include:
- Up to $80 million of additional funding for Minnesota schools
- Forecast adjustments for schools including $77 million owed to schools in special education funding for FY18/19
- Flexibility measures, funding and resources to help schools facing budget shortfalls and potential teacher layoffs
- School safety measures including policies to allow facility security upgrades, address student mental health, assess security needs in school buildings, and hire more student counselors or school resource officers
- An extension on the implementation date for the new tiered licensing system, giving the Professional Educator Licensing and Standards Board (PELSB) additional time to finish their rulemaking process to adopt the new rules to issue licenses under the new system. Without this extension, PELSB will be required to begin issuing licenses on July 1 without any rules, causing challenges for new educators trying to get a Minnesota teaching license
- Strengthening and clarifying laws to close loopholes in the background checks for all school employees, including educators and bus drivers, and raising the standards on professional conduct
- The creation and implementation of substance abuse curriculum focusing on opioid awareness and prevention
- Initiatives to address rising special education costs
- Strengthening laws to protect students from school lunch shaming