Apparently there is a lot of confusion about how the 2022 session ended, specifically surrounding K-12 education. As chair of the Senate’s education committee, I can help clear the air.

There are some people with insincere motives who will say the issue is funding, but it’s not. Since 2017, Senate Republicans have approved historic funding for education, including $18.6 billion in total education funding in 2017, 2% annual student formula increases in 2019, and $1.1 billion in funding increases in 2021 – including the largest formula growth in 15 years.

This year, schools gave us a simple agenda – focus on literacy, don’t add any more burdens, and increase funding for special education and mental health. 

That is what we did. The Senate’s original K12 budget proposal focused solely on academics, specifically reading. It was a logical decision given only 50% of our public K12 students are reading at grade level. Our proposal included about $58 million to support educators in reading instruction. No new mandates or additional burdens. Incidentally, the proposal had broad support; virtually everyone agreed with it.

In the closing days of session, Senate Republicans worked to reach a compromise with the governor and House by providing another $1 billion to K12. To give you some perspective, that is roughly 20 times the average amount of education spending in a non-budget year. 

You may agree or disagree with that amount — too low, too high — but that was the compromise. That is the hand we were dealt so we did what the schools asked.

Here are the facts of what happened. This is all public information, posted to the conference committee site and shared with the press. 

The Senate made four offers in the closing days of session. Our offers were all simple: we focused on funding for literacy, special education, and mental health. Our proposals included the original literacy funding, an additional $15 million for mental health, and a huge 6-fold increase in funding for special education. We also proposed funding early childhood education scholarships and accepted some provisions that Gov. Walz and the House had asked for.

In return, the House sent us unserious offer after unserious offer. Their first offer included about 100 spending items and hundreds of policies that increased burdens, mandates, and costs on schools. Their offers included only a fraction of funding for literacy and special education, which were two of the top priorities for school officials this year. And near the end, they even sent an offer that included $56 million for unemployment benefits for part-time workers – a proposal so far out of left field that it literally had not even been discussed by the committee this year.

If you would like a more detailed play-by-play of how these negotiations unfolded, please contact me and I will be happy to walk you through the specifics.

In summary, the Senate offered exactly what the schools requested: no new mandates or new policy, support for reading, money for mental health, and a 6-fold increase in special education funding. 

The House, unfortunately, repeatedly sent us unserious offers. We had a real opportunity to do great things for parents, students, and educators. But we missed that opportunity because the House was more concerned about political maneuvering than getting our work done.

Roger