Minnesota Education Officials Push For $745 Million Spending Boost

By Rilyn Eischens, the Minnesota Reformer

February 9, 2021

Minnesota education officials on Tuesday made the case to legislators for a $745 million package that they said will help students recover from the pandemic and improve the state’s educational disparities.

The package is part of Gov. Tim Walz’s $52.4 billion budget proposal and includes funding for measures in his “Due North” education plan, which he unveiled in late January. The education budget recommendation spans a number of programs, from summer tutoring to diversifying the teacher workforce — and may be a tough sell to legislators when the state is facing an $883 million budget deficit.

The agency’s ask is geared toward improving equity and “ensuring access and participation for every single student, regardless of race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, gender, sexuality and ability,” Heather Mueller, deputy commissioner of the Department of Education, told members of the House Education Finance Committee.

The budget recommendation includes a summer package of $146 million in state and federal spending for expanded academic and after school programs, increased mental health resources and more community and neighborhood partnerships. These programs would help students and schools bounce back from the pandemic, Mueller said, and would need to be approved as soon as possible for districts to start planning.

Beyond the summer, the proposal includes an increase to the general education formula — the largest source of state funding to schools — of 1% in fiscal year 2022 and 2.5% in 2023. That would cost $301 million over two years, according to the Minnesota Department of Education.

The agency also wants to hire and retain more student support personnel, like counselors and nurses; increase funding for community schools; improve access to Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate courses for students of color; require ethnic studies coursework; create accurate and culturally appropriate Indigenous curriculum; and improve teacher workforce programs, among other proposals.

Rep. Steve Drazkowski, R-Mazeppa, suggested the funds for mental health staff and programs wouldn’t be necessary if schools resumed full-time, in-person learning for all students.

Schools have been using distance learning, in-person learning or a mix of the two based on the spread of COVID-19 in their communities this year, with middle and high schoolers less likely to have in-person classes than young students. Districts were allowed to resume in-person classes for elementary students regardless of COVID-19 case rates beginning in January.

“It seems that this budget proposal simply throws more money at solving the problems caused by those decisions (from the governor),” Drazkowski said. “Don’t you think that when we actually remove these barriers to our local schools and let them operate again that the governor’s-caused mental health issues for these students will go away?”

Mueller said the recommendation isn’t just a reaction to the pandemic. It would help address a longstanding shortage of counselors and mental health providers in schools statewide, she said.

The Minnesota Reformer is an independent, nonprofit news organization dedicated to keeping Minnesotans informed and unearthing stories other outlets can’t or won’t tell..