House passes K–12 finance and policy bill with literacy indexing and special-education review

The Minnesota House passed House File 5, a K–12 education finance and policy bill, on a roll-call vote of 97 ayes to 36 nays. Lawmakers invoked a suspension of rules to move the measure to immediate consideration and final passage.

Representative Joachim, the bill’s author, described the package as the product of a bipartisan, bicameral working group. Joachim told members the bill "provides some flexibility in funding streams" and preserves an indexing of the general education formula to inflation, providing a 2.74% increase in 2026 and 3% in 2027 under the negotiated language.

Key components described on the floor include investments in consolidation aid; compensatory revenue hold-harmless provisions; a special-education teacher apprenticeship program; one-time grants for Minnesota Youth Council and math-corp programs; and a dual-language immersion advisory committee embedded in the Read Act. The bill keeps the Read Act’s focus on foundational literacy and adopts policy language encouraging curricula and training aligned with the science of reading, floor supporters said.

Floor speakers repeatedly noted that the agreement met a joint budget target that required deeper reductions in future biennia (often referred to on the floor as "the tails"), with a working-group accounting of about $420,000,000 in cuts in the tails. Representative Joachim and other proponents said they protected the current-year investments and indexed the general formula to provide districts near-term stability, while acknowledging that some reductions were necessary to meet the joint targets.

The legislation creates a Blue Ribbon Commission to identify $250,000,000 (as described on the floor) of slower growth or savings in special-education spending to reduce the expected cross-subsidy cost in future biennia; several speakers said that if the commission does not find offsets, the reductions will be implemented in the 2028–29 biennium and would change the special-education funding formula. Floor remarks also described a phased reduction in the special-education transportation reimbursement rate (from 100% toward 90% by 2027) and reductions to some teacher-pathway and mentoring programs, student-support personnel grants and other line items in the tails.

Supporters including Representative Kreisha, co-chair of the finance committee, and Representative Jordan, a policy co-chair, thanked committee staff and highlighted provisions intended to preserve local control, fund long-term facilities maintenance (including roof repairs for rural schools) and strengthen literacy policy. Representative Mueller emphasized inclusion of "science of reading" language and said the Read Act provisions were the last major item negotiated into the bill.

Critics on the floor said the bill’s out-year cuts would reduce services and staff in classrooms. Representative Bakeberg and other members warned districts to plan for the fiscal consequences of the tails reductions. Proponents countered that the package provides a two-year funding baseline and that further work on mandates, compensatory aid and special-education cost drivers will be necessary in the next session.

There were no floor amendments pending when the bill was called for final passage. The clerk recorded final passage: 97 ayes and 36 nays; the bill’s title was agreed to.