To: School Board Members and Superintendents

Looking Back 
The House and Senate Education Committee meetings continued to provide statewide overviews on topics such as concurrent enrollment, charter schools, pensions and teacher licensure. If you would like the materials provided on any of these topics contact us. We are happy to provide them.

The House Education Innovation Committee did review the Report of 2016 Legislative Study Group on Educator Licensing.

The   FY2015 Special Education Cross-Subsidy Report has been released.The gap between special education expenditures and revenues is expected to reach $719 million in FY 2019. MSBA's 2017 Legislative Platform asks the Minnesota Legislature and the Federal Government to correct the persistent under-funding of special education. This affects every school district in the state.

To give you an idea of the impact, the adjusted net cross-subsidies range from $65,000 to $66 million, per school district, across the state. To see the impact on your district refer to Appendix B of the report.

Looking Forward
The House Education Innovation Policy Committee on Tuesday, will hear a bill which extends the K-12 education credit to tuition . The bill, which does not have a number at this time, can be found here. The Senate E-12 Policy Committee will hear a similar bill Tuesday afternoon and the language can be found here. MSBA will testify in opposition to any use of tuition tax credits for attendance in private elementary or secondary schools.

The Senate E-12 Finance Committee will meet and hear testimony on reading proficiently by grade 3.

Check the House and Senate TV/Video links to watch these hearings.

Federal Effort
MSBA's Kirk Schneidawind, Denise Dittrich and the executive board will be traveling to Washington, DC to advocate on behalf of Minnesota students on the implementation of the Every Student Succeeds Act.
The group hopes to get some insight to the new Federal Education plan.

As session progresses, we will provide updates on significant bills that have been heard. When possible, we will provide links to the video so you can watch with us.

Newly Introduced Education Bills of Interest

• H. F. 268, A bill  authorizing a grant for academic and behavioral interventions for low-performing and chronically absent students.
• H. F. 276, A bill providing additional support for homeless students; creating professional development opportunities for staff who work with homeless students; appropriating money.
• H. F. 279, A bill directing the Board of Teaching to adopt standards for a specialized license, endorsement, or credential for project-based learning; requiring a project-based learning proposal.
• H. F. 341, A bill pursuing strategies to prevent over-enrolling minority students and English learners in special education, dismissing more minority students than other students with disabilities, or placing more minority students than other students in settings other than general education classrooms; emphasizing cultural competency.
•  H. F. 344, A bill modifying the calculation of special education aid; increasing school district basic revenue; indexing basic revenue to inflation; authorizing a school district to renew an expiring referendum by action of the school board.
• S.F. No. 189: A bill creating a new source of state aid for school districts with low general education revenue per pupil and low property wealth per pupil.
• S.F. No. 204: A bill increasing funding for the community education revenue program; increasing the minimum population guarantee.

If you prefer a written document, we are sharing a memorandum that is being provided to legislators as we conduct meetings.  

Sincerely,

Your Government Relations Team
Grace Keliher
Denise Dittrich
Kimberley Lewis