Today Minnesota Management and Budget (MMB) has released its February forecast. The announcement this afternoon indicates that the projected budget surplus for the next two years has grown to $9.253 billion. That is up substantially from the previously projected $7.7 billion.

According to MMB, a higher income, consumer spending, and corporate profit forecast results in an improved revenue projection while spending is slightly lower in E-12 education and Health and Human Services. The revenue and spending forecast changes are mostly one-time and the structural balance in the FY 2024-25 planning estimates remains positive and largely unchanged from November. Uncertainty due to inflation and geopolitical conflict pose risk to the budget and economic outlook. Here is a link to MMB's additional materials.

We encourage you to follow the bills that are introduced each week by visiting the Stay Connected webpage on the MSBA website. Bill introductions can be accessed by clicking the Advocate.

As more bills dealing with parents and parental engagement are introduced, we thought you might find this document helpful. It is a compilation of current statutes around parental rights and engagement as well as MSBA model policies on the topic.

This week we will see the suite of bills referred to as the "Parents' Bill of Rights" go to the Senate floor for debate by the entire Senate. Be sure to

SF 2575 - Parental curriculum review

SF 2666 - Class syllabi required for kindergarten through grade 12 classes

SF 2909 - Parent's right protection in the education of their minor child

SF 2729 - School district board meetings and charter school board meetings changes

SF 1525 - Education savings accounts for students act

Save the Date! Thursday, March 17 for Take Action Thursday. This will be our virtual Day at the Capitol.

Your voice is needed to ensure the budget targets are big enough to fund our priorities of fully funding special education and the English learner cross-subsidy.

Governor Walz released his supplemental budget recommendations with a $788 million proposed increase in early education through grade12 funding for next school year. His ecommendations would also increase funding by $1.7 billion for the following two school years. With the state’s projected budget surplus of $7.75 billion, ask your elected officials to support a spending target of at least the Governor’s $788 million target. A draft letter has been prepared for you to utilize.

In an effort to draw attention to Rep. Wolgamott's bill (HF 2567) to fully fund special education, we will be sharing each district's special education cross-subsidy in a tweet each day. Please "Like" and "Retweet.

Please don't forget to pass the Congressional IDEA Full Funding Act resolution at your board table. The Government Relations team had been meeting with members of Congress and they have mentioned the resolutions their offices have been receiving. Once you have passed it, please send a copy to each of your members of Congress and to klewis@mnmsba.org.