The Minnesota House passed House File 2433, the K‑12 education finance bill, by a vote of 93–41 on May 16 after hours of floor debate about funding priorities, mandate relief, and program design.

Sponsoring lawmakers described the bill as a compromise to provide districts with more predictable funding and limited flexibility while protecting major policies adopted in previous sessions. Representative Joaquin (Hennepin), who reviewed the bill on the floor, said the measure preserved the link between the general education formula and inflation, maintained universal meals, protected student support personnel aid for counselors and school nurses, and added a new basic supplemental aid pool to give districts flexibility. He and other sponsors said the bill also funded a Read Act distribution of $40 million in the first biennium and included task forces and pilots on compensatory revenue and other programs.

Critics and supporters argued over specific trade‑offs: the bill slowed growth in some categorical aids, reallocated money from some targeted pots into more flexible basic supplemental aid, and removed several legislatively directed grants from the tails. One notable contentious element discussed on the floor was language affecting unemployment insurance for hourly school workers (see separate article on HF1143). House conferees also removed or delayed some provisions because of fiscal notes and implementation concerns; sponsors said they will continue to pursue some items in the next session or conference committee.

Representative Krishna (Morrison), co‑chair of the finance committee, acknowledged the constrained fiscal target given the projected revenue picture and urged members to view the bill as a compromise aimed at preserving services and offering local flexibility. Several members from both rural and metro districts spoke on the floor about district‑specific impacts; Representatives Hansen (Ramsey) and Feist underscored concerns about compensatory aid cliffs for certain districts and supported task‑force work to address distribution differences.

Next steps: The bill was passed by the House and will proceed to conference with the Senate. Sponsors said some items — including unemployment insurance funding timing and compensatory distribution reforms — will be the subject of further negotiation.