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State Rep. Brad Tapke updates Shakopee board on education bills, student safety funding
Summary
Rep. Brad Tapke briefed the Shakopee Public School District board on recent state legislation affecting schools, including absenteeism policy work, facility maintenance funding and available state safety resources, and urged local officials to seek state engineering and grant help for unsafe crossings near schools.
State Representative Brad Tapke told the Shakopee Public School District board on Aug. 25 that the recent legislative session produced several education-related items that could affect the district, including work on absenteeism policy, long‑term facility maintenance funding and workforce-skills partnerships.
“It's a huge issue across the state,” Tapke said of absenteeism, describing bipartisan progress and saying the Legislature had taken some new steps this year. He also told the board that the 2026 school-year budget will reflect inflationary adjustments the House included in 2023, which he described as a 2.74% increase this year with a 3% cap on future increases.
Tapke said he and a legislative colleague are advancing a workforce-skills bill in partnership with the Chamber and that the Legislature made progress on long‑term facility maintenance funding. He also mentioned hospitality education grants and other smaller programs that could benefit students.
Tapke highlighted pedestrian and bicycle safety as a statewide concern and urged the district and city to use state resources for infrastructure fixes near schools. “Last year, it hit a high of, 233, I believe, is the number,” Tapke said of serious injuries and crashes; he added that about 20 of those were fatalities and that many incidents occur near schools. “We have engineering help that we can do,” he said, encouraging the district to coordinate with city and state staff.
Board members and staff said the district is already partnering with the city on a Safe Schools grant and that infrastructure changes around specific sites would be constructed next school year. Assistant district staff names were discussed in the meeting as the district described planned design work and contract drafting.
Tapke’s remarks were delivered as an informational update; the board did not take formal action on the legislative items during the meeting.
