Legislative Session Update - 4/12/21
This week both the House and Senate advanced their respective education omnibus appropriations bills – HF1065 and SF960. HF1065 was heard in the House Tax Committee and the House Ways and Means Committee and will be voted on by the full House on Monday, April 19. SF960 advanced out of Senate Tax committee but is awaiting review by the Senate Finance committee before being voted on by the full Senate sometime next week. Then the conference committee process begins.
Bill summaries
Below are summaries of the House and Senate education omnibus bills as well as education related provisions in other bills.
Senate advances bill directing use of federal funds
On Friday, the Senate Finance Committee discussed a bill outlining their priorities for the use of federal funding Minnesota is expected to receive under the portion of the American Rescue Plan. Minnesota will receive $2.57 billion allocation as part of the State Fiscal Relief Fund and has discretion on the use of these funds.
The proposal directs funding for a number of areas included K12 education -- $100 million is appropriated to address the special education cross subsidy.
MN Management and Budget (MMB) cautioned on moving too quickly and indicated some of the uses outlined in the bill may not be allowed. MMB is still waiting for guidance from the federal government on the use of these funds and asked for a slowing down in advancing this legislation. The House is unlikely to advance a similar proposal but expect overall negotiations on the state budget to include discussion on the use of these federal funds.
The committee did not act on the bill but likely will in the coming weeks.
Next steps
We will be sending a call to action about final negotiations on the education finance bill. We are letting the work of the legislature progress right now and will let you know the right time to engage on funding priorities and which members we need you to reach out to. In the meantime, please do the following:
Thank Rep. Jim Davnie (rep.jim.davnie@house.mn) for the strong support and funding in the House bill.
Communicate with your local legislators to let them know how the funding proposals in each bill would impact your school district.