Safe Routes to School Funding Bill Gets Halverson's Support

A handful of legislators on both sides of the aisle—including District 51B Rep. Laurie Halverson (DFL)—want to increase funding for a program to improve sidewalks, street crossings and trails near schools to increase student safety.

Halverson and more than a dozen other Minnesota have co-sponsored a bill that would appropriate $12.8 million in bond funds and $3.2 million from the state's general fund for the state's Safe Routes to Schools program. The proposal was authored by District 36B Rep. Melissa Hortman (DFL).

That money would be used to help develop and improve pedestrian infrastructure to make it safer for students to walk and bike to school, according to a coalition of Minnesota safety, community, education and health groups in support of the proposal. If the proposal is signed into law, the money would be distributed in the form of grants to local school districts by the Minnesota Department of Transportation, which oversees the Safe Routes program.

The Safe Routes to Schools program was established by the Minnesota Legislature in 2012, but proponents of the legislation argue the program has not yet received adequate funding.

"Funding a Minnesota Safe Routes to School Program will go a long way toward increasing the safety of students who want to walk and bike to school by addressing existing funding shortfalls and expanding the program to include high schools," Rachel Callanan, the Regional Vice President of Advocacy for the American Heart Association, wrote in a news release.

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