ST. PAUL, MN – This week, Governor Mark Dayton and legislative leaders announced that Minnesota schools were repaid an additional $636 million at the end of the 2013 fiscal year.
Under the leadership of Governor Dayton and the DFL-led legislature, Minnesota has now repaid nearly $2.6 billion of the $2.8 billion that was previously borrowed from public schools, known as the “school shift.”
“The funds borrowed from Minnesota schools are almost fully repaid because we created a plan to make it happen,” said Rep. David Bly (DFL – Northfield). “Making sure our schools have more financial certainty and stability goes hand-in-hand with building the kind of highly-educated workforce our economy needs. Paying back the school shift has always been a top priority of mine. I’m pleased to see our plan in working.”
The full release regarding the school shift from Minnesota Management & Budget’s can be found here: Preliminary FY 2013 Closing Balance of $636 Million Allocated to School Shift Buy Back
The new state budget signed into law this spring by Governor Dayton is projected to begin the next biennium with a surplus. The budget also invested over $600 million in Minnesota’s students – reversing a decade of disinvestment in education. This new funding is directed toward strategies proven to close the achievement gap, raise graduation rates, and improve career and college readiness.
This week’s announcement comes just after Minnesota added 12,200 jobs in August, pushing total jobs in the state over the pre-recession peak that was reached in February 2008, and less than a week after Minnesota was ranked eighth in the “Forbes 2013 List of the Best States for Business” rankings.
“Politicians in Washington could learn a lot from how we do things here in Minnesota,” added Rep. Bly. “All we see coming out of DC these days is gridlock and grandstanding, but at our state capitol, we’ve seen real progress with respect to priorities like education and job creation. We’ve come a long way from our own government shutdown back in 2011.”
Rep. Bly encourages his constituents to contact him with any questions, comments, or other feedback. He can be reached by phone at (651) 296-0171, by email at rep.david.bly@house.mn, or by postal mail at 559 State Office Building, 100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., St. Paul, MN 55155.