Minnesota House passes K-12 education finance and policy bill, House File 5

The Minnesota House passed House File 5, a K–12 education finance and policy bill, by a 97-36 vote after members suspended House rules so the measure could receive final consideration.

The bill, described on the House floor as a product of a bipartisan, bicameral working group, indexes the general education formula to inflation — providing a 2.74% increase in 2026 and 3% in 2027 — and includes a mix of program investments, one-time grants and targeted reductions to meet the Legislature’s joint budget targets.

“This is a K through 12 education finance and policy bill that we’ll be considering today,” Representative Yu Hakim, the bill’s author, told members as he described the package as the result of multi-day negotiations. He said indexing “really brings stability to our school districts’ budgets” and noted the bill preserves several House priorities while accommodating spending targets agreed with the Senate.

Why it matters: lawmakers said the bill provides two years of funding certainty for school districts while also reflecting difficult budget tradeoffs. Sponsors repeatedly framed the measure as an effort to protect classroom spending where possible while meeting a requirement to reduce projected spending in later years.

Key provisions - Indexes the general education formula to inflation, raising the formula…