Legislative mandates, overreach, and increased responsibility for the school
By now, you have probably heard that the 2023 legislative session has been described as “historic” with a transformational increase of funding. Yet many others describe the session as government overreach, loss of local control, and many more unfunded mandates that drain our limited school resources. Regardless of how the session aligns with our varied viewpoints, here are some facts you need to know.
Minnesota started the session with a $17.5 billion surplus, and legislators introduced more than 6,700 new bills. The Legislature provided an annual increase of 4 percent and 2 percent to the pupil-funding formula. When you take into account the rates of inflation that exceeded 6 and 7 percent the past two years, the formula increase still falls short of the historic inflation and underfunding we’ve been experiencing for decades. There were also discussions about eliminating the special education cross–subsidy. These are general education funds used to provide the needed resources, supports, and adaptations mandated for students with special needs. In the end, the state agreed to pay 44 percent of these mandated costs, leaving the school district to pay the remaining 56 percent from its general education funds.
There were a lot of new bills supported by labor unions that drew support from legislators. One of these bills provides unlicensed hourly employees with unemployment insurance for the summer months. This new bill went into effect on May 28, 2023, and will be funded with one-time state aid until 2027, after that, we’ve estimated our cost at $200K. The Legislature also created the Paid Family and Medical Leave Act which is a statewide program to provide all workers with up to 12 weeks of earned-paid medical leave per year, with an annual cap of 20 weeks. Under the plan, the employer will be responsible for a payroll tax to fund the program.
Mandates and overreach include 34 amended policies, and all of these revisions will require more district involvement, oversight, accountability, and in some cases unintended consequences. For example, the recent legalization of cannabis and keeping these products off school grounds will require staff training, student education, and increased cost for curriculum and materials. This is just one example of the mandated changes requiring revised policy, staff development, curriculum resources, and enforcement of the new rules to align with policy amendments.
In summary, there will be a lot of unintended consequences to the mandates, and the “historic” increase in funding simply doesn’t keep up with decades of underfunding and the inflation we’ve been experiencing. Legislators need to change their priorities and begin addressing the growing and out-of-control discrepancy gap in pupil funding.
Mark Messman, Superintendent of Eden Valley-Watkins ISD #0463 320-453-2900 ext. 1143