Early in the week, the Speaker of the House and the Majority leader reached an agreement to spend an additional $320 million annually on Minnesota schools.

This week, the Education Conference Committee Chairs exchanged offers without getting much closer to an agreement.  Currently, the Senate has $57 million for K-8 teachers to receive LETRS literacy training.  The majority of the remaining new funding of $265 million is used to reduce the special education cross-subsidy by 40%.  See the potential new revenue for your school district.  The House has a two-page document with new spending items.  The House directs two-thirds of the new spending to their top priorities – $96 million to reduce the special education cross-subsidy, $47 million to reduce the English language (EL) cross-subsidy, $26 million to increase the diversity in the teacher workforce, and $27 million for schools to address student mental health needs by hiring support staff.  You can see more details on the multiple offers on the SEE website.

Once an education bill is agreed to, it must pass out of the conference committee and move to the House and Senate floors for a vote before midnight on Sunday.  Time is running out.  To meet the deadline, I don’t believe there will be an education bill unless the Speaker, Senate Majority Leader, and the Governor intervene now (like they did last year) and determine how to spend the $300 million for education.  If that happens, the final education bill will not be complicated like the House’s last offer.  It would be more feasible that the House is given $57 million on their top priorities, and the rest would go towards reducing the special education cross-subsidy.  (Keep in mind, this is only my guess, and you NEVER know how things will turn out!)  The worst-case scenario is that legislators fail to do their job leaving Minnesota schools without additional resources needed to meet their students’ academic, social, and emotional needs.