Neighbors,
We have adjourned the 2015 legislative session after many sleepless nights working on budget bills. I am proud of the work we have done to deliver on the promises we made to you to prioritize education, care for aging adults, and solve problems within our communities.
We have established a uniform rate of reimbursement for nursing homes and care facilities through our Health and Human Services budget, which will help us better serve our elderly and vulnerable. We have also passed loan forgiveness for those choosing to enter long-term care careers, ensuring that the field remains attractive for the next generation of care providers. In our Public Safety budget, we worked hard to protect the constitutional rights of Minnesota citizens. We also implemented stronger child protection statutes to protect our children, stood up against tax increases for Minnesota families, and expanded access to mental health treatment for all Minnesotans. This was a productive session, and our budget negotiations produced great bipartisan results.
As I began my first term, I reiterated to many of you that education would be my number one priority. Serving on the Education Innovation, Education Finance, and Higher Education Policy and Finance committees gave me the opportunity to give my input on important ventures that would improve learning for our local students. Unfortunately, despite heavy bipartisan support from the House and the Senate, Governor Dayton announced earlier this week that he is vetoing our E-12 Education budget because we did not implement a universal pre-K mandate. Our budget invests an additional $1.3 billion into our public schools, more than $400 million over base spending. A majority of this funding goes directly to our local schools – an increase of $205 per pupil – and our budget included reforms to help us put great teachers in every classroom and improve student learning and safety through dedicated funds to improve classrooms and school grounds. Furthermore, our budget included more than $60 million in new funding for early education scholarships and school readiness programs.
I understand that every student learns differently, and that parents ought to have the ability to give input on programs that best serve their student’s needs. I’m disappointed that Governor Dayton would ignore the requests of real parents and school districts to provide flexibility, and would instead choose to put school funding in jeopardy by vetoing our Education budget.
Rest assured, as we enter a special session in the coming weeks, I will continue to advocate for programs that will help our local parents choose pre-K programming that fits their needs as well as the needs of our youngest students.
Thank you for the honor of representing your voice in St. Paul. I am looking forward to having the opportunity to spend more time in our district during the interim. Please continue to stay in touch to share your thoughts on the issues that face you and your family. You can reach me via phone at (651)296-****, or via email at rep.drew.christensen@house.mn.
Have a great weekend,
Rep. Drew Christensen