I firmly believe in investing robustly in our K-12 schools. 

I believe in supporting our hardworking teachers, setting our students up for the best future possible, and giving our local districts autonomy. 

That is why I am dismayed that those in power are squandering the opportunity we have before us to put record funding into our schools by mandating our local districts into the red.  

I reached out to the districts I represent, as did many of my Republican colleagues around Minnesota. What we heard back was disturbing: while the plans before the Legislature put record investments into our schools, the policies and mandates attached to the funding will actually force our districts into financial ruin. 

Our school districts are begging the Legislature to do better. 

As the Republican Lead on the Education Policy Committee, I worked with my colleagues to introduce a “Students First” education plan that presents a better alternative. The Students First plan prioritizes direct assistance to our students and addresses education shortfalls.

While I appreciate the Democrats’ education budget investing $41 million in early literacy, this is not enough to address our students’ alarming decline in literacy. That is why the Students First plan allocates $100 million to get our education system back on track. The Senate majority also failed to provide funding for safe schools. That is why our plan contains $200 million in safe schools aid to ensure every child feels safe while learning.

Additionally, if our plan were to become law, Minnesota schools would receive a 5% increase on the formula each year, with no new mandates tied to the formula. Our education plan also allocates $1 billion to fund the special education cross-subsidy, which equates to funding the cross-subsidy at 65%. The Democrat’s budget only funds the cross-subsidy at 40-47%. And finally, our Student First plan contains $100 million to provide additional property tax relief through equalization.  

The Republican Education Finance and Policy plan does so much more good to get critical funding into our schools, to focus on increasing our devasting reading scores in Minnesota, and to get our students and teachers back on track after the pandemic. 

Our funding proposal uses the same budget target as the Democrats but erases the expensive and burdensome mandates. It puts more money into classrooms and the special education subsidy while focusing on literacy and student safety.  

I believe in our teachers, schools, and parents. I have no doubt in my mind that with the proper freedom and funding, they can and will make Minnesota a leader in education.  

Let’s take this plan back to the drawing board and do right by those counting on us. 

State Senator Julia Coleman