MASA... "At the Capitol" w/ Charlie.... not much happenning

A report on the status of the Minnesota Legislative process to the members of the MN Association of School Administrators (MASA) from Executive Director Charlie Kyte.

The audio podcast above is 8 3/4 minutes long.

5 WEEKS TO GO

I can't count the days fast enough. We are in sort of a pause right now as the Conference Committee tries to get a Super Omnibus Bill in shape to send to the Governor. It is super in that it combines all areas of government into one Bill. It isn't super in that it is a budget cutting, rather than a funding, Bill.

FINANCE CONFERENCE COMMITTEE COMPARES K-12 BILLS

Both the Senate and the House want to find funds to secure the School Trust Fund Lands, the earning from which now go to the DNR. This would be a good move and we hope they can find the $20 million required to get this done. These Lands have the potential to have significant earnings for K-1`2 education in the years ahead.

The House proposes a 1% increase ($51/pu) to the general fund on a one time basis and uses the excess Q-Comp money for one year to do this.

The Senate proposes a 2/3 of 1% permanent ($37/pu) to the general fund and uses the excess Q-Comp money for 3-5 years to do this.

In either case the Governor will probably veto this as it limits the continued expansion of the Q-Comp initiative.

VERY LITTLE EDUCATIONAL POLICY WILL PASS

Much of the policy language adopted by both the House and Senate Education Committees will simply be dropped or vetoed by the Governor. We will probably see new language on the school report cards. The Superintendent's Passage Rate Report will be repealed. IN it's place will be the new "Achievement Gap" Report that will make you wish to have the old passage rate report back.

PENSION COMMISSION

Language to allow the TRA post-fund and active funds to be combined was passed. This would only happen if the post-fund fell to being only 80% funded (right now it is about 85% funded).

Education Minnesota is pushing hard for the Rule of 90 for all post 1989 hires. This probably won't pass as they also need to come up with a method of paying for this improvement. I haven't seen any plan as yet to pay and if this is passed without a payment plan, the TRA system will quickly be in deep trouble. MASA has delivered a letter to the Pension Commission suggesting a 'middle ground' approach. We proposed a Rule of 90 at age 62. This reduces the age of retirement for many in this group, removes much of the bias against women (who miss a few years early in their careers to have children), and recognizes that people are living and working longer. It is also a much more affordable option.

The Pension Commission also adopted Bills to allow a higher limit for post-retirement earnings (up to $42,000) and the ability to prearrange a work relationship prior to actually retiring.

The matching limit for 403b's was raised from $2000 to $7750. Also passed was a requirement that selection of 403b vendors be subject to PELRA bargaining.

We have not yet seen the final Pension Commission Omnibus Pension Bill. ONce adopted it must be passed by both houses of the legislature and then signed by the governor

ON-LINE TESTING..... PLEASE LET US KNOW YOUR OPINIONS

Districts will shortly be opening the testing window for the on-line MCA Science Assessment tests. We know this is a big undertaking for both the MDE and for school districts. We recognize that computers needed to be upgraded and that your labs will be tied up for quite some time to do this.

We would like to know if you are seeing serious glitches in the process or frustrations greater than you might ordinarily expect. Just shoot me a quick e-mail so we here at MASA can get a statewide perspective of your reactions. If you would prefer ask your testing coordinator to communicate with me. My e-mail is ckyte@mnasa.org.