By Rich Larson
The Minnesota State Legislature beat the deadline yesterday, passing several bills to complete the state budget for the new biennium which began this
morning, and thereby avoiding a government shutdown.
Among the bills passed was the compromise State Government, Elections and Veterans bill that funds the state offices and elections.
One provision of the bill was a personal victory for Representative Todd Lippert, who had put significant work into the Market Bucks program, that allows for the use of SNAP program dollars at farmers markets. After funding for the program was blocked in the agriculture bill, Lippert pivoted and fought for the program’s funding in this one. He has been a vocal supporter of the program saying that low-income Minnesotans should have access to healthy and affordable farmers’ market produce. The budget also creates the Legislative Commission on Cybersecurity and would recognize Daylight Saving Time as the standard of time all year – provided federal legislation permits this change.
Another bill passed by both the House and Senate yesterday was the Public Safety and Judiciary Bill. In addition to funding the Department of Public Safety, the Department of Corrections, the Department of Human Rights, and the judicial branch, the bill includes several criminal justice and police accountability reforms which House DFLers have been advocating for all session. However, the compromise has been met with loud criticism from many who say the bill does not create enough police reform.
The bill does allow for sign-and-release warrants, limits no-knock warrants, strengthens the database that red flags bad police officers, requires a referral to a mental health crisis team on mental-health calls, and partially funds community organizations working to prevent crime and perform youth outreach.
Representative Lippert said he was happy to have voted in favor of this bill for several reasons.
“We were able to get sign and release warrants, which would have made a difference in the Daunte Wright shooting, no-knock warrants could have prevented a Breonna Taylor type of shooting, as we saw in Louisville, and we strengthened the Officer Misconduct Database, which seeks to prevent a Derek Chauvin sort of situation in the future.”
Among other bills passed and signed last night was the Education funding bill and the tax bill. All the bills have been signed by Governor Walz, except for the tax bill which will be signed today.
Hillmann says there are problems with school district funding system
While Superintendent of Northfield Schools Dr. Matt Hillmann said he feels that the E-12education bill passed by the legislature last night is a good bill, he does find some of the provisions a bit lacking and hopes that the legislature will take a look at the way school districts are funded in the future.
Hillmann was quite complimentary of some of the newly funded programs in the bill. He said the program to recruit teachers of color is very important and will pay dividends down the road. “Our current educational workforce does not look like the student population that is coming,” he said, “and it’s good that the legislature has recognized this.”
He also singled out the funding for evidence-based reading training, because as teaching methods evolve, and better techniques come to light, it is important to keep abreast of such things.
Hillmann said, while he is not always happy to see one-time grants in education funding, he did appreciate the extra money included in the bill to help with Special Education and English Language Learners. The Northfield School District budgets about $5 million dollars every year for state mandated Special Ed programs, and Hillmann said not only is the district happy to do that, but he sees it as a moral imperative. Normally the district is left to pay for these programs out of its general fund, but this year, the legislature allocated just over $10 million dollars into the funding to help with special education. Hillmann pointed out that $10 million for the entire state will not amount to much help, especially when the Northfield District’s budget is half of that entire amount, but he said the acknowledgement is an encouraging one.
His major concern with the funding bill this year is something that has been a consistent problem over the years. While a 2.45% increase in 2022 is very helpful, as is the 2% increase that will come in 2023, they do not keep up with the rate of inflation, and long term, that is a problem.
“We have to take a look at the long-term funding. You know that if we go back thirty years, I can count on one hand the number of times the increase in the basic formula has matched inflation. And even with a 2.45% increase in the first year of the biennium, that still doesn’t match inflation, and so while we are grateful for this investment now, there are more unknowns.”
Hillmann said he is grateful for the investment right now and for the next two years, but without keeping up with inflation, and without knowing what the state will do as the funding bills keep coming up every two years, it is very difficult to make a long-term financial plan.
Jeff Johnson’s full conversation with Superintendent Dr. Matt Hillmann can be heard here
Rich Larson is the KYMN News Director. He can be reached at rich@kymnradio.net
