Senate Democrats yesterday forced through two education bills that not only place unfunded mandates on schools, but also fail to address safe schools aid, early literacy, and the special education cross subsidy. 

“The bills being advanced in the legislature are full of unfunded mandates that will do nothing but hurt our schools,” said Senator Michael Kreun (R-Blaine). “We had an opportunity to get this right with the ‘Students First’ plan, which would have given schools historic funding increases, combined with the flexibility they need to solve their unique problems. We are instead left with another one-size-fits-all bill that dictates what districts can do and how they should spend their funding. It is a shame that this bill spends an unprecedented amount of money, and still manages to leave our schools worse off.”

As an alternative, Senate Republicans introduced a “Students First” education plan that presents a better alternative to a set of Democrat-led mandate-heavy education bills. The Students First plan incorporates five key points that aim to directly assist students and address education shortfalls: 

• A 5% increase on the formula each year, with no new mandates tied to the formula 
• $1 billion to fund the special education cross-subsidy, which equates to funding the cross-subsidy at 65% 
• $100 million to fund literacy programs that get Minnesota students back on track  
• $200 million to fund “Safe Schools” initiatives to ensure every child feels safe while learning  
• $100 million to provide additional property tax relief through equalization  

This plan sets itself apart from the Democrats’ plan by offering an alternative that prioritizes students, literacy, and funding that directly benefits learning in the classroom. The Democrats’ plan only provides a 4% increase the first year and a 5% increase in the second year on the formula, most of which is tied to funding mandates, only a 47% increase for the special education cross-subsidy, and only $41 million literacy and nothing for school safety. 

In August 2022, the Department of Education released assessment results that showed a steady decrease in students meeting standards in reading, math, and science. Between 2018 and 2022, Minnesota went from 60% of students being proficient in reading to only 51%. A similar trend follows for science, decreasing from 52% to 41%, and math, also decreasing from 57% to 44%. Additionally, in 19 schools across the state, not a single student was proficient in math.