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Superintendent presents lobbying priorities as district faces multimillion‑dollar shortfalls
Summary
Fridley Public School District leadership outlined legislative priorities and showed projections that recent state changes and proposed cuts could reduce district revenue by roughly 11% and impose multimillion‑dollar special education and other shortfalls.
Superintendent Dr. Lewis presented a district advocacy agenda and a line‑by‑line accounting of state funding changes she said would negatively affect Fridley Public School District finances, and she asked board members to participate in three upcoming advocacy days at the Capitol.
Why this matters: District leaders told the board that several state policy actions and proposed cuts would materially affect programs and staffing and asked the board to join coordinated lobbying with AMSD, MSBA and other groups to seek fixes.
Key fiscal points presented by the superintendent included:
- Compensatory revenue: district staff said a change to how compensatory revenue is calculated (emphasis on direct certification) and a reduced statewide pool left Fridley facing a projected loss “over a million dollars” next school year. The presentation described that change as a “double hit” and stated the recalculation would represent a roughly 2% reduction to the district’s overall budget.
- Literacy aid: the superintendent said literacy legislation created an unfunded mandate and that the district faces a near $500,000 shortfall because the district’s literacy expenses (about $666,000) exceed revenue ($204,000) tied to that aid.
- QComp: the district receives QComp funding of roughly $704,000 but said it outpaces its QComp spending by more than $100,000 annually; the district characterized the program as important to teacher compensation and recruitment and asked for continued support.
- Unemployment costs: new state law expanded unemployment eligibility to paraeducators, nutrition staff and some contractors; the superintendent said the district absorbed $217,000 last summer and warned that reimbursement for those costs is being reduced or removed.
- Special education: the superintendent said special education cross‑subsidy and proposed reductions in special education transportation reimbursement would further increase local costs. She presented an estimate that, after recent legislative changes, special‑education under‑funding and cross‑subsidy amount to about $2,600,000, which she described as about 6% of the district budget.
Dr. Lewis framed many of the points as part of a “one voice” lobbying approach and urged board members to attend three advocacy events: an MSBA/MASA joint day (March 10), a staff day (March 11) and an AMSD day (March 24). She said three board members were already signed up for the March 10 joint day and asked board members to sign up for the other dates.
Board members discussed logistics and some agreed to attend; the board later voted to lobby against proposed state legislation (House file referenced in discussion) that would move school board elections to even‑numbered years (see votes at a glance article). The superintendent said she would provide one‑page materials so board members could succinctly present district impacts to legislators.
Ending: The superintendent asked the board to serve as an “umbrella” for the district’s advocacy and to help communicate the budget impacts of proposed state actions to lawmakers.
