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Board reviews draft legislative platform: funding for basic education, Read Act costs and mandate relief among priorities
Summary
District legislative committee presented a draft platform asking for increased education funding, full Read Act support, relief or funding for new state mandates, compensatory funding fixes tied to free school meals, and more flexibility for facilities and safety dollars.
Carissa (legislative committee representative) presented a draft legislative platform designed to guide the board’s advocacy during the upcoming state session. The draft groups priorities under funding, school safety, assessment/measurement, and district operations.
Carissa told the board: “Every year, the school board adopts a legislative platform to help as they have conversations with our local legislators, about what our schools need.” She said the platform draws on work from partner groups including the Association of Metropolitan School Districts and the Minnesota School Boards Association.
Major funding-related requests in the draft include: an increase in the state basic education formula to cover rising costs (staffing, insurance and other operating costs); additional funding to cover Read Act curriculum and professional-development costs (LETRS training and literacy materials); and funding to offset new state-created employer costs such as paid family medical leave and related unemployment insurance impacts. Committee members told the board the district is seeking either full funding for those mandates or relief, because implementation has imposed costs and administrative burden on district staff.
Carissa also described a compensatory-funding concern tied to the federal/state meal program transition. Because breakfast and lunch are now provided to students without a fee, fewer families complete the free-and-reduced-price forms used to calculate some state aid, which the committee estimates has created about a $300,000 annual shortfall for the district. “We are experiencing about a $300,000 loss with the way that it's currently working,” Carissa said, and staff said they are marketing the form to families to capture eligible students.
Other items included a request to increase local optional revenue (the draft lists the current per-pupil optional levy figure and asks for an increase), more flexibility in Long-Term Facilities Maintenance (LTFM) funding to allow for modernization or modest additions rather than strict like-for-like replacement, flexibility in the Safe Schools Levy, and a proposal to explore allowing an ACT option instead of or in addition to current statewide MCAs for high school assessment.
Carissa said the draft is not final; the board will review edits and the district plans to use the platform at an upcoming legislative breakfast with area legislators and at AMSD’s day at the Capitol. Superintendent Dr. Funk and board members discussed strategy: whether to pursue additional funding in the current split legislature or instead push for repeal or modification of unfunded mandates. Board members asked staff to consider options and to return the draft in the visually formatted version planned for distribution to legislators.
Ending: Staff will revise the draft platform based on board feedback, distribute the formatted version for the legislative breakfast and bring it back for formal approval at a future meeting.
