Fixing the so-called school funding “doughnut hole” is a top priority for the House Education Finance Committee, said Rep. Paul Marquart (DFL-Dilworth), the committee chair. And this is the essence of bills dealing with location equity heard Wednesday by the committee.
A product of last session’s tax bill, the new category of general education revenue attempts to address the higher costs Twin Cities metropolitan area school districts face by providing $424 per pupil for districts wholly or partially within the seven-county metro area and $212 per pupil for Greater Minnesota school districts serving more than 2,000 students.
But some school districts fall below the 2,000-student Greater Minnesota location equity cutoff, and are too big to receive small-school revenue that is reserved for school districts with fewer than 960 students.
The gap in the middle is dubbed “the doughnut hole.”
“We are literally in the doughnut hole we talk about,” said Jeff Olson, superintendent of the 1,900-student St. Peter School District.
Marquart views two bills as offering direction on how to plug the hole.
In his bill, HF2547, Rep. Joe Radinovich (DFL-Crosby) would set the location equity revenue amount at $424 per pupil for all school districts in the state. The proposal would cost the General Fund $20 million in 2016.
The bill would clarify the calculation of location equity revenue and make it a permanent part of the general education revenue, according to the nonpartisan House Research Department.
HF2544, sponsored by Rep. John Benson (DFL-Minnetonka), would spread the $212 per pupil Greater Minnesota location equity blanket to school districts not qualifying for small-school revenue. It comes with a $4.3 million General Fund cost in 2016 and beyond.
Like Radinovich’s bill, it would make the funding a permanent part of the general education revenue. It
All the location equity bills were held over for possible inclusion into a committee omnibus bill.
Sen. Vicki Jensen (DFL-Owatonna) sponsors SF2370, the companion to Radinovich’s bill. Sen. Terri Bonoff (DFL-Minnetonka) sponsors SF2233, the companion to Benson’s bill. Both await action by the Senate Finance Committee.