After taking some extra time to work on their bill, the Republican-led Legislature remains far apart from Democratic Gov. Mark Dayton when it comes to how much to spend on public schools.
A joint House and Senate committee unveiled Tuesday a two-year budget proposal that includes $303 million in new money and that would bring state spending the next two years on public schools to $18.6 billion.
The group of lawmakers had planned to release their budget plans Monday afternoon, but were delayed drafting one of the state’s largest budget proposals.
The House and Senate agreement is more than lawmakers in either chamber initially wanted to spend, but their latest proposal is less than half the $713 million in new money Dayton wants.
The bill also includes a number of funding changes and policy provisions the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party governor has said he opposes, including shifting money away from one of Dayton’s key priorities: public preschool.
Much of the new spending goes toward the per-pupil general funding formula school leaders use to pay for day-to-day operations. It provides a 1.5 percent, or $91 per student, increase each of the next two years.
“That’s where the majority of our funds have been spent,” explained Sen. Carla Nelson, R-Rochester, who co-chairs the education funding committee. “That’s where school districts have the most flexibility to meet individual needs.”
In contrast, Dayton has proposed a 2 percent per year general funding increase at a cost of $371 million. School advocates say anything less than 2 percent a year will make it hard for them to keep up with inflationary costs and likely lead to staff cuts.
“It’s woefully inadequate for what needs to happen for our kids and for our teachers,” Brenda Cassellius, state education commissioner, said of the proposal.
There’s also considerable disagreement between Dayton and the Legislature over preschool funding.
Republicans say they favor preschool funding that is targeted to low-income students who need it most. Dayton wants a mixed delivery system that provides public preschool for any 4-year-old whose family wants it and scholarships for younger kids in need.
Dayton proposed $175 million in new public preschool spending to serve nearly 14,000 kids, about 9,000 of whom live in rural Minnesota.
Republican lawmakers want to shift about $46 million the state now spends on public preschool into an existing school-readiness program that gives school leaders more flexibility over how the money is used. They also want to add $19 million to preschool scholarships parents can use at public and private programs.
The Legislature’s plans also include controversial policy changes to how districts cut teachers when budget are tight. School leaders and their teachers unions would be required to negotiate local layoff procedures rather than using the default system currently in state law commonly called “Last In, First Out,” or LIFO.
Dayton vetoed changes to teacher-layoff rules in 2012 and has said he opposes the latest proposal, which so far has passed only the Minnesota House on its own.
Finally, the Republican budget eliminates the Perpich Center for Arts Education, which was recently the subject of a critical report by the state Legislative Auditor, a government watchdog. Dayton has appointed a new slate of board members to overhaul the troubled state agency that is responsible for providing arts curriculum to students and teachers statewide.
Despite the significant differences between Dayton and the Legislature on education spending, Cassellius and Republican leaders remained hopeful Tuesday that they could find common ground.