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Board adopts 2025 legislative platform after talks on assessment task force and funding formula
Summary
The Prior Lake‑Savage board unanimously approved a condensed 2025 legislative platform that calls for a K‑12 assessment review task force and urges changes to the state funding formula and several unfunded mandates; the board asked the administration to include dollar estimates on a companion one‑pager.
The Prior Lake‑Savage Area Schools board on Monday approved a revised 2025 legislative platform that asks the Legislature to establish a K‑12 assessment review task force and to address long‑standing school funding issues, including the state's basic education formula.
The motion to adopt the platform with the agreed edits passed 7‑0.
Superintendent Dr. Todd Thomas said the platform remains aligned with statewide groups and that administrators will supply a companion document with dollar estimates for key mandates. "We'll have the space that would just be one sentence now," he said when describing the condensed language and promised a companion Word document with cost estimates.
Task force and assessments: Board members debated language calling for a K‑12 assessment review task force to "evaluate current testing requirements" and to ensure assessments better support student learning and outcomes. Several directors stressed that the aim is to convene a statewide group to examine whether current tests measure the standards the state expects teachers to teach.
Funding formula and mandates: Directors also agreed to call for a review of the state's basic education formula, which the platform notes has not been substantially revised since 1971. The board directed administrators to lead with a request for a modest near‑term increase (administration suggested a 3% boost over current funding for 2026–27 and a $250 per‑student increase to the local optional revenue rate) and to recommend creation of a task force to study the formula's structural issues.
Mandates and cost estimates: Directors identified several unfunded or underfunded state requirements they want prioritized, naming the REED Act, ESST and summer unemployment as examples; paid family medical leave was also raised as a significant potential financial and operational risk. Finance staff will prepare potential risk figures for the platform one‑pager; administration said the platform should lead with potential risks, with more detailed ranges available on a cheat‑sheet for board members.
Vote: Director Amy moved adoption of the platform with the agreed changes; Director Charles seconded. The board voted 7‑0.
Ending: Administrators said they will circulate a final one‑page platform and an accompanying document with cost calculations to board members and legislative contacts before the district's advocacy meetings.
