A Crossroads for Public Education in Minnesota

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A Crossroads for Public Education in Minnesota
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Education is the Largest Part of the State Budget!

• A Constitutional mandate
• Section 1.UNIFORM SYSTEM OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS.
  The stability of a republican form of government
  depending mainly upon the intelligence of the
  people, it is the duty of the legislature to
  establish a general and uniform system of public
  schools. The legislature shall make such
  provisions by taxation or otherwise as will
  secure a thorough and efficient system of public
  schools throughout the state.

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Who Decides How Much Schools in Minnesota Receive?

• Per pupil formula (set by state
  legislature)
• x ADM (Adjusted Marginal Pupil Unit)
• District Operating Fund

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Havent We Kept Pace with Inflation?
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What Happened for Schools with our Record
Surpluses in the 90s?

• Increases in growth
• Increases in expectations
• Increases in cost

Income tax reductions Property tax
reductions Business tax rate reductions
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Our Population is Changing

Tom Gillaspy
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Minnesotas younger population is more
diverse
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Change In Minnesota School Enrollments 1999-00 to
2004-05 By Language Spoken At Home

Tom Gillaspy
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Special Education Requirements

• 1975 Education of All Handicapped Children
  Act, Public Law 94-142. Now called Individuals
  with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), Public
  Law 105-17
• --Brought over 1 million children who were
  previously kept at home or in institutions into
  the public school system.
• Federal government agreed to pay 40 of excess
  cost to educate these children. Federal
  government currently provides 18 of funding for
  special education to states. It has never
  provided the mandated 40.
• In 2005, the state auditors report on public
  school costs showed that the greatest increases
  in school budgets were for special education.

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Minnesota Special Ed. Characteristics

• --114,000 children in Minnesota receive special
  education services
• --special education made available to broader
  population than federally mandated.
• --Minnesotas of special education students
  slightly lower than other Midwestern states or
  nation.

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So

• More children qualifying for free and reduced
  lunches
• More children needing English language learning
  services
• More children requiring special education
  services
• 100 rule for the first time in history

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And the Response?

• Capped English Language Learning services to 5
  years
• Cut child care eligibility
• Restored early childhood education dollars to
  2003 levels
• Cut after school programs
• Federal Title 1 dollars diverted to NCLB
• Abolished the special education inflator

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Didnt the 2005 Legislature Pour Money into Our
Schools?
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What does that mean?

• It was the largest unencumbered increase in K-12
  in 14 years
• To have kept pace with the inflation during the
  90s schools needed 5/5 they received 4/4
• We can expect our local property taxes to
  increase
• We are seeing an increased use of sin taxes
• We will continue using cross subsidy dollars for
  special education

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Why are we at a Crossroads?

• We are working with the 100 Rule
• Our population is changing. Half of the total
  population growth this decade has been minority.
  New, diverse population is younger
• And by 2020, the number of Minnesotans 65 will
  have increased by 53, by 2030 it will have
  doubled.
• Trends seem to indicate less interest in
  investing in our schools

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• So why
• should any of this
• matter to us?

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Minnesota Future Labor Force
Tom Gillaspy
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By 2020 65 is Larger than K-12By 2030 65
Doubles Tom Gillaspy
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State Education and Minnesota Demographic
Change Tom Gillaspy
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What are other states doing with their state
taxes?

• 43 states enacted large tax cuts in the
  90s.Most have neither reversed those cuts nor
  enacted other tax increases to replace lost
  revenue.
• Experts contend that sales taxthe engine of
  state budgets have not kept pace with changes in
  consumer spending.

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And is Minnesota a trend setter? Price of
Government in Minnesota



The Price of Government is the State of
Minnesotas
official
measure and is factored

as total revenue as a

percentage
of personal income.
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So What is Being Done?

• Funding study commissioned in 2003 by Governor
  Pawlenty
• Significant findings
• Those schools with higher concentrations of
  children who are English language learners,
  qualify for free and reduced lunch and/or have
  special needs have higher costs.
• Student access to quality local public schools
  should not be dependent on the property wealth of
  their district.

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But What We Didnt Find Out

• The cost of educating a child in the state of
  Minnesota.
• The cost of educating that child if they have
  special needs, need English language learning
  support or qualify for free and reduced lunch
• Different funding formula models that may be used.

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What is Being Talked About Around School Funding?

• How should schools be funded?
• Taxes?
• Casinos?
• Sin taxes?
• Should schools themselves be revenue generators?
• Vouchers/Tax Credits
• Who should fund schools?
• What should the states responsibility be?
• What should the local taxpayers responsibility
  be?
• Should philanthropy be used and to what extent?

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So What do I do?

• Be part of the conversation!
• The social compact in Minnesota has always been
  around providing a quality education for our
  children so that they can succeed economically
  and govern themselves in a democracy.
• The question today
• Considering the demographic and societal changes
  facing our state, is that social compact changing
  direction?

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Parents United

• Working to engage concerned citizens in the
  conversation around public policy and its effect
  on our public schools
• www.parentsunited.org
• Advocates for
• Minnesotas Public Schools