District lobbyist warns of large biennial deficit as board readies 2026 platform

Valerie Delson, the district lobbyist, told the Osseo Public School District board during a work session that Minnesota Management and Budget's economic forecast shows "a $2,470,000 surplus for the current biennium at an almost $3,000,000,000 deficit for the next biennium." She urged the board to view the 2026 legislative session — which begins Feb. 17 and is primarily policy- and bonding-focused — as a year to protect existing funding rather than expect new revenue.

"It's not a budget-setting session," Delson said, adding that higher health-care costs and slower growth are driving the next-biennium shortfall and that the governor's January recommendations will likely include reductions for the following biennium. The board's draft priorities emphasize maintaining the general-fund inflationary index, increasing local optional revenue modestly, strengthening school-safety and mental-health funding and asking for relief from unfunded mandates.

Board members said the district's platform would be more modest than in a funding year, focused on retaining current formulas and targeted asks such as increased local optional revenue, summer unemployment insurance funding and expanded allowable uses of long-term facility maintenance for cybersecurity and technology. "If anything, I think the goal here is to try to maintain what we have," said a board member during discussion.

Delson noted several upcoming interim reports and working groups that will shape education policy, including the compensatory-revenue task force and working groups on seclusion and developmental-delay special-education categories. She said retirements among legislative leaders could also affect education committee assignments and priorities.