Bipartisan, compromise legislation allows school districts to avoid financial penalties & reimburse staff

Bipartisan legislation chief-authored by Senator Carla Nelson (R-Rochester) to allow local Minnesota school boards, by board resolution, to count snow days taken during the 2018-19 school year as regular school days for purposes of meeting the state’s school calendar requirement, was signed into law by Governor Tim Walz (DFL) on Monday, April 1. This allows school districts to avoid possible funding shortfalls, or even the theoretical possibility of jail time for superintendents, due to not meeting the state calendar requirement. The bill contains a provision that requires school districts who take the option of forgiving snow days to offer its hourly-paid employees and/or contractors, such as bus companies, additional work hours or compensation to make them whole.

“Our number one priority is student safety,” said Senator Nelson, Chair of the Senate E-12 Education Finance and Policy Committee. “While superintendents rightly prioritized the safety of students in cancelling school due to unprecedented weather circumstances, they faced a struggle to meet Minnesota’s calendar requirement. This bill gives local school boards the option to forgive days to ensure full and stable funding for their districts, avoid the possibility of jail time for their superintendents, and prevent unreasonable scheduling disruptions for students and families. Further, this protects hourly employees and contractors from facing financial hardships by offering them additional work or compensation to make them whole. I thank Governor Walz for working with us on this legislation to guarantee Minnesota public schools stay fully funded.”

The “Snow Day Relief Act” only applies to days missed during the 2018-19 school year and allows local school boards to determine the number of school days cancelled “due to health and safety concerns” they want to forgive, if any. It is also completely voluntary, meaning if a school district does not need the law or has already made calendar adjustments, they can ignore it in its entirety. Schools must also report the number of days used under this law – and those who did must strongly consider e-learning days in future calendars. Many schools have reported missing ten or more days due to winter weather and discussed the possibility of having to delay upcoming construction projects if they were required to extend the school year into the summer.