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Legislative News and Views - Rep. Eric Lucero (R)

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LUCERO AUTHORS SECOND BILL TO HELP LOCAL SCHOOL DISTRICT FUNDING

Friday, April 10, 2015
News Release
 
 
 
 ST. PAUL – A second equity-in-education bill chief authored by Rep. Eric Lucero, R-Dayton, received a bill hearing in the House Education Finance Committee on Friday.
 
 
The bill (H.F. 983) seeks to help low-revenue/low-tax-base school districts by targeting the bottom 20 percent to provide additional revenue. The bill would help local school districts such as St. Michael-Albertville, Elk River, and Buffalo-Hanover-Montrose.
 
Among those who testified at the Capitol in favor of Lucero's bill were STMA students Madeline Jesser and Brianna Goodchild, STMA Superintendent Jim Behle, and representatives from the Elk River school district.
 
 
"The structure of the state's existing school funding formula results in a continued funding disparity for those districts at the top versus those districts at the bottom," Lucero said. "Moreover, the hard working residents such as our communities in the bottom 20 percent disproportionately feel the financial impact of local school referendums due in large part to being bedroom communities without a large business or industrial tax base. This is the second bill I have chief authored working to make state funding of our local schools more equitable, and I am proud to receive bipartition support for both bills."
 
 
Lucero's bill now is under consideration for possible inclusion in the House Education Finance Omnibus Bill. Sen. Mary Kiffmeyer, R-Big Lake, is chief author of the companion bill (S.F. 604).
 
 
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