Conference agreement on K-12 finance

The conference committee agreement on HF934*/ SF1030, the omnibus education finance bill adopted just before midnight May 10, could be good news for two state agencies. The Education Department and the Perpich Center for Arts Education would see a 5 percent cut each, compared with a 34 percent department reduction and elimination of the Perpich Center they feared based on earlier proposals.

The committee, chaired by bill sponsors Rep. Pat Garofalo (R-Farmington) and Sen. Gen Olson (R-Minnetrista), also agreed to remove the freeze proposed by the House and Senate to the special education growth factor, increase basic education revenue of $20 per pupil unit in fiscal year 2012 and $21 the following year and repeal the statute permitting the state to borrow from school districts cash reserves.

Integration revenue would be repealed in fiscal year 2012, to be replaced with an innovation aid. School districts in Minneapolis and St. Paul would get $60 less per pupil in innovation revenue than they receive in integration revenue, Duluth schools would receive $6 less per pupil and all other districts would receive the same in innovation revenue as their integration revenue.

Included is a teacher appraisal and effectiveness rating proposal emphasizing standardized test results and linking students’ performance to compensation and employment decisions for individual teachers. It would create five-year renewable teacher tenure based on the appraisal results.

Also included in the bill is a voucher program proposed by the House for Minneapolis, St. Paul and Duluth schools allowing certain low-income students who attend low-performing schools to receive a voucher for tuition at a participating nonpublic school.

Other proposals include:

• retaining the 70/30 state aid payment shift implemented in 2010;

• an early high school graduation scholarship program that would grant up to $7,500 per student who graduates early and attends any accredited institution of higher education;

• permanent school fund revenues would go to charter schools as well as school districts;

• repeal of a 2 percent staff development requirement and the Safe Schools levy school set-aside; and

• changes to teacher contract and bargaining statutes, including repeal of the Jan. 15 contract deadline, a requirement that teachers accept a qualified economic offer and submit to binding arbitration, and the ability of school boards to select a 403(b) vendor for teachers’ retirement accounts.