Legislative committee begins drafting platform, prioritizes funding, school safety and staff retention

The legislative committee of the Board of Education convened at 6 p.m. Nov. 18 to begin drafting the district's legislative platform for the coming session, with members saying they will align priorities with drafts from the Association of Metropolitan School Districts (AMSD) and the Minnesota School Boards Association (MSBA).

Unidentified Speaker 1 opened the meeting by urging the group to “begin brainstorm and think and ... start figuring out how we wanna draft our new legislative platform,” and listed the district’s current asks: a 3% increase above inflation for general-education funding, steps to reduce cross-subsidy, increased local operational revenue per pupil, creating a permanent state funding stream for unemployment insurance for non-licensed employees, reimbursements for implementation and training costs, and protections to hold districts harmless for losses in compensatory aid.

Committee members signaled broad agreement that funding stability should remain a central priority. “Stabilize funding” and “extend the hold harmless” were repeatedly cited as critical for the district’s finances; speakers also described opposing a proposed contingent $250 million cut to special-education funding as a high priority.

School safety emerged as the second major theme. AMSD’s draft proposes a $100-per-pupil safe-schools levy and strengthened secure-gun-storage measures. Unidentified Speaker 4 noted a recent local incident at Annunciation and argued safety funding and expanded mental-health supports are foundational for student and staff well-being. “I can check into that for you all,” Unidentified Speaker 4 said when asked to estimate how $100 per pupil would affect district revenue and programs.

Committee members discussed the scope of district authority for some safety proposals. They agreed the district can regulate vehicles and activities on school property but cannot mandate firearm storage in private homes; several members suggested focusing legislative asks on areas where state law could change or where the district can provide education and resources.

Mental-health services and student supports were raised repeatedly. Unidentified Speaker 4 said that of incidents requiring ambulance transport this year, about half were related to mental-health issues — a statistic members used to argue for expanded mental-health funding tied to a safe-schools levy.

Workforce and retention proposals also featured in the discussion. Members praised “grow your own” programs and recommended continued and expanded funding for teacher mentoring, recruitment and retention supports. They discussed licensure stability for some staff tiers and measures to make reapplication less burdensome for certain employees.

The committee also considered assessment and accountability changes. Members discussed AMSD’s suggestion to replace the statewide Minnesota Comprehensive Assessments (MCA) with a nationally recognized college entrance exam or to convene a blue-ribbon commission to evaluate balanced, student-centered assessment options.

Several technical and access issues were noted for monitoring: the 15-day residency requirement for online students (which affects the Virtual Academy), per-pupil allocations for long-term facilities maintenance and capital levies, and summer-term unemployment insurance costs for non-licensed staff.

Next steps: members agreed to compare the district’s priorities with the upcoming MSBA draft (expected in January, possibly December), and to prepare a district draft for review at a January work session. Unidentified Speaker 4 asked staff to prepare an initial draft (Sarah to prepare a first draft; Aaron to refine language), and the committee adjourned with no formal motions or votes recorded.

The committee did not take formal action; it set a planning timeline and assigned staff drafting tasks ahead of the next meeting.