Rep. Tim Faust
NEWS RELEASE
Minnesota House of Representatives
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT:
Matt Privratsy
(651) 296-6800
September 30, 2013
DFL Legislative Leaders Announce Minnesota Schools Repaid $636 Million
Nearly $2.6 billion of the $2.8 billion borrowed from Minnesota schools has been repaid under the leadership of Governor Dayton and the DFL Legislature
ST. PAUL, MN – Today, Governor Mark Dayton, Senate Majority Leader Tom Bakk, House Speaker Paul Thissen, Management and Budget Commissioner Jim Schowalter, and Education Commissioner Brenda Cassellius announced that Minnesota schools were repaid an additional $636 million at the end of the 2013 fiscal year.
Under the leadership of the DFL legislature, Minnesota has now repaid nearly $2.6 billion of the $2.8 billion that was previously borrowed from our schools.
“Schools in our district will benefit greatly from the repayment of these shift dollars,” said Rep. Tim Faust (DFL – Hinckley). “The school shift took place before I returned to office and it was certainly one of my top priorities when I returned to St Paul in January of this year. I’m glad to see the shift nearly paid off.”
A decade of cuts, shifts, and gimmicks caused Minnesota to lurch from one budget crisis to the next – limiting the state’s ability to fund education and job creation. This year, the legislature put an end to roller-coaster deficits with a fair and balanced budget that put Minnesota on sound fiscal footing and delivered key investments in education.
"This is what happens when you work together to find solutions and invest in the things that matter most rather than focus on partisan politics like in Washington. " said Faust.
The new state budget signed into law this spring 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 student career and college readiness.
Today’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.
###