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Senate committee hears bill to continue and expand P‑TECH high school programs
Summary
The Senate Education Finance Committee heard testimony supporting Senate File 1176 to continue base funding for Rochester’s P‑TECH program and to provide new startup and support grants so other districts can create similar career‑linked pathways. The bill was laid over for possible inclusion in an omnibus education finance package.
The Minnesota Senate Education Finance Committee on Feb. 26 heard testimony on Senate File 1176, a bill to continue base funding for the Pathways in Technology Early College High Schools (P‑TECH) in Rochester while creating startup and support grants so other districts can launch similar programs.
The bill’s sponsor, Senator Bolden, told the committee the measure would “allow full funding for Rochester’s highly successful P‑TECH program to continue while growing the pie, creating more opportunities for start up and ongoing support grants for other districts.”
Rochester Public Schools Superintendent Kent Pickell described the Rochester model as a combined high‑school/college pathway tied to local demand jobs. “We have a practical nursing pathway...and the other pathway is in information technology,” Pickell said, noting partnerships with Rochester Community and Technical College, Mayo Clinic and IBM Rochester. He said the program includes internships and job shadows and aims for students to earn postsecondary credentials and degrees alongside their high‑school diplomas.
Committee members pressed for details about scale and administration. Pickell said the first graduating P‑TECH cohort is about 35 students and later cohorts about 50 to 60, split roughly evenly between nursing and IT. MDE staff advised the committee about administrative funding in the bill: under Section 124D.093, subdivision 5, the Department of Education can retain up to 5% of the appropriation in each year; MDE staff estimated that would be approximately $38,000 for FY2026, $78,000 for FY2027 and about $125,000 in FY2028 and later under the bill’s funding assumptions.
Committee discussion also addressed how much startup funding the bill would provide and how many districts could be supported. Senator Bolden described line‑item figures to the committee, saying line 1.11 includes $500,000 for Rochester and additional dollars to support other districts. MDE staff later described the bill’s funding as including $500,000 to Rochester and, in the staff explanation, about $791,000 total in the first year with start‑up grants capped at $50,000 per grantee — “you could support approximately 4, or 5, new P‑TECH programs with that startup funding,” MDE staff said.
Supporters and several senators praised the model as a way to create job‑aligned pathways (for example, welding or trades in other regions) and to reduce future student loan costs for graduates who earn credentials during high school. Questions included concerns about administrative overhead and how P‑TECH differs from existing postsecondary enrollment options (PSEO). Pickell said the key difference is a deliberate sequence of high‑school coursework designed to prepare for specific career pathways and aligned postsecondary classes, rather than ad hoc college courses taken while in high school.
After testimony and questions, the committee laid Senate File 1176 over for possible inclusion in a future omnibus education finance bill.
Votes and formal actions taken in the committee affecting the bill are summarized below.
