Today is, of course, President’s Day, the federal holiday established to commemorate the birthdays of the first and sixteenth Presidents of the United States, George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. Expect some public services to be closed to mark the federal holiday, though others will maintain normal operations.
Most federal, state, county and city offices, including the courts, will be closed today. Rice and Dakota County Offices are closed. City Hall is closed today, as is the Northfield Public Library. Emergency services will remain open and active today.
There are no classes today for Northfield Public Schools, including Arcadia Charter School and Prairie Creek Community School. St. Dominic School is closed today as well, as are most area private schools.
The Post Office is closed, and mail will not be delivered today. However, UPS and FedEx packages will be delivered, although there are some modified services. Most banks, including Wells Fargo, are closed today, but not all. Those with banking needs should check with their bank office for hours of operation.
Pursell likes Frazier’s bill
With the 2024 Minnesota Legislative Session a week old, the first issue to make headlines is the role of School Resource Officers, or SROs, and the restrictions on how they are allowed to interact with students.
Last year, legislation was passed classifying SROs as agents of the school district that they serve. That change has been interpreted by many to disallow their ability to restrain students. The change has caused quite a bit of controversy. Some police departments have removed the SROs from their local school districts. Top state and county officials cannot agree on one defining interpretation of the law, which has only led to more confusion.
Representative Kristi Pursell (D-Northfield) said, while the debate has not come before any of the committees upon which she serves, she has been paying attention to the debate and testimony as much as she can. She agrees that it is incumbent upon the legislature to clarify the matter and make the role of School Resource Officers as clear as possible.
“Are they the disciplinarians for classroom bad behavior? Are they there [more] to keep the community of the school safe? This bill better defines what their role is. And I think that is much needed.”
A bill to clarify the situation has been heard in committees in both the House of Representatives and the Senate. The specific issue is the ability of an SRO to use “prone restraint,” which is defined as a method of intervention that puts a person in a face-down position and does not allow them to stand. Pursell said the bill, in her opinion, does allow the use of prone restraint by SROs if a student is acting as a danger to other students or themselves, but not for an extended length of time. She believes the Chief Author of the clarifying bill, Representative Cedrick Frazier (D – New Hope) has done quite a bit of work and research into the issue, and she trusts the way the bill is written.
“Representative Cedric Frazier (D-New Hope) has worked in educational settings. He’s a lawyer. He’s a man of color. I respect deeply where he has come down on this, and the amount of work that the authors have been doing in the interim, talking with administrators, talking with police, and talking with students.”
The bill has passed through the Senate Education Policy Committee and is now before the Senate Judiciary Committee. In the House, it has passed the Education Policy Committee, but has not yet passed out of the Public Safety Policy and Finance Committee.
Jeff Johnson’s full conversation with Representative Kristi Pursell can be heard here
Hillmann sees a need for further funding
With the legislative session underway, education associations Meanwhile, other adjustments and changes made by the 2023 legislature are necessary as well.
Last week, Northfield Superintendent of Schools Dr. Matt Hillmann updated the Northfield School Board on the legislative agendas of both the Minnesota Association of School Administrators and the Minnesota School Boards Association during the regular board meeting. Hillmann said the Northfield School District hit a snag at the beginning of the current school year with the Minnesota Free Meals Program. Initially, the district had been informed that the new law providing free school breakfast and lunch to every Minnesota Student would also cover the kids in the district’s licensed childcare center, so the budget and policy was set under those expectations. However, the district was later informed that the program only covers meals on the days the children also attend pre-school. The Northfield Post plant donated $21,000 to help defray the costs, and the problem has been solved. Hillmann said, however, that the legislature must be informed of the technical and communicative fixes that are necessary to keep problems like this from arising again.
Other issues that he had hoped would be eliminated by the legislature in 2023 were addressed, but the problems remain. Hillmann spoke often about what he called “chronic underfunding” of education by the state after increases to the per-pupil basic formula were no longer tied to inflation in the early 1990’s. While, he said, the legislature did once again index funding to inflation beginning in 2026, the increase to the per-pupil fund wasn’t enough to address the financial needs of all school districts. And there is also the problem of the unfunded mandate on Special Education.
“The special education cross subsidy is the amount of general fund money that school districts spend to pay for required, and I would say morally imperative, services to students with disabilities for which we are not reimbursed by the state or federal governments. We saw a 44% decrease in the cross subsidy last year, and we need to just keep moving the ball down the field.”
Hillmann said the increases in education funding passed by the legislature in 2023 are greatly appreciated, and while he does not expect to see a supplemental funding bill this year, the state’s education community will continue to communicate its needs to the legislature and advocate for the needs of the state’s school kids.
Rich Larson is the KYMN News Director. Contact him at rich@kymnradio.net
