Voice of MN Education

"At the Capitol....K-12 Bill Finalized

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

The audio podcast is 7 1/2 minutes long.

FLASH UPDATE:  THE E-12 BILL PASSED THE SENATE, AND THEN THE HOUSE, AT ABOUT 9:00 THIS EVENING.  THE LANGUAGE OF THE PASSED BILL DID NOT CHANGE FROM WHAT IS SUMMARIZED BELOW EXCEPT FOR THE 'ONE-TIME' MONEY WHICH WAS REDUCED BY ABOUT ONE HALF.

K-12 AGREEMENT REACHED AT 4:00 AM:

The K-12 Education Bill must still pass through the House and Senate today and be signed by the Governor.  However, we understand that the legislative leadership and the Governor’s office are in agreement about the Bill.  The staff are still working on final language.

There were two major tensions at play as the legislative session neared an end.  One was the issue of raising more revenues vs living within the present tax structure.  The later of these pretty much carried the day although there will be some enhanced enforcement to eliminate foreign operating credits (FOC’s).

The second tension was between meeting the needs of children (ie: education funding) vs the needs of senior citizens (ie: nursing home funding).  The tension here is only beginning and will only intensify in coming years.  As the Boomers age, education may well come out on the losing end of this battle.

DETAILS ARE STILL TO COME, BUT HERE ARE THE MAJOR ELEMENTS:

Please forgive me if a few of these details prove to be inaccurate in the end.  The provisions below are based on what our ‘agents’ know and some of it is pieced together from different sources.

Formulas:  2% in 2007-08, and 1% in 2008-09.

Special Ed Pro-ration:  Approximately $330 million which fills the majority of the pro-rations of the Sp Ed and SP Ed Excess formulas.  Fully funding this shortfall would have cost about $385 million.  By my rough calculations the new pro-rations will be in the 93-96% range.  We believe that the growth factors for these formulas are in the Bill, meaning that the pro-ration shortfall shouldn’t grow again in the succeeding years.

All Day Kindergarten:  The funding has been reduced from an additional $43 million to about $33 million.  This would put the Kindergarten formula in the .58-.59 FTE range.

Q-Comp:  Funding will continue to increase

Early Education:  The 2003 levels of funding for ECFE are restored.  There will also be some funding for the Early Education Scholarships for low income families.

One time funding:  Previously this amount was set at about $150 million which produced about $80/ PU in each year for a range of Capitol purposes.  We haven’t been able to pin this number down exactly, but suspect that it was reduced somewhat in the final negotiations.

STATE WIDE HEALTH INSURANCE POOL:

This Bill passed the House and Senate.  Its future would then lie in the hands of the Governor who can (a) sign it, (b) veto it, or (c) let it become law without his signature.

Please e-mail Governor Pawlenty (tim.pawlenty@state.mn.us) and urge a veot.  He needs to hear from you by noon on Tuesday.

If this Bill becomes law, it should always be called the “Education Minnesota Statewide Health Insurance Pool” as Ed MN pulled out all the stops to get it passed.  If it works they deserve the credit, and if it doesn’t, all school employees need to remember whose idea it was.

OBSERVATIONS:

Within the available money, this Bill is about as well crafted as possible.  However, the amount of money for on-going operation of school districts is very slim.  You need to factor out any one time money or dedicated money when calculating what is available to settle contracts and meet other operational costs.

One pundit here at the Capitol said that the 2%/ 1% formula changes will do more to end ‘lanes and steps’ than any Q-Comp program.  Most districts won’t even be able to cover those costs without more lay-offs and class size increases.

"At the Capitol"....Possible K-12 Agreement

A report to the members of the Minnesota Association of School Administrators (MASA) by Charlie Kyte, Executive Director.  This is a report on the concluding days of the 2007 Minnesota Legislative Session.

This audio pod cast is 6 minutes long.

A K-12 EDUCATION FUNDING BILL IS POSSIBLE.  NEED A BIT MORE REVENUE:

We need about $200 million more in on-going funding for K-12 education.  We feel this may be possible, but will require some NEW revenue to do so.  We are hopeful the Governor can find a creative way to help find this money.

STATUS OF THE K-12 BILL ON FRIDAY MORNING:

The K-12 Bill is awaiting action by the House.  However the House leadership is appropriately holding it in the hopes that an agreement can be reached with the Governor on the amount of money in the Bill and where the revenue might come from. The present Bill still lacks adequate funding, especially in the second year. 

At present the Sp Ed pro-ration is fixed, there is a 2% increase in all the formulas for the first year, there is some money for all-day kindergarten and quite a bit of one-time capitol money in each year. The two missing pieces from our perspective are formula funding in the 2nd year and a bit more money in each year for the formulas. 

From the Governors perspective he would like money invested in innovation including the continued expansion of the Q-Comp program.  We think that both the Governor and we are correct in what is needed and hope we can all work together to get the Bill finished.

STATEWIDE HEALTH INSURANCE POOL:

The Statewide Health Insurance Bill passed the House last night.  The Senate and the House will get their language on this issue to agree (minor changes). Then they will both pass the Bill, and send it to the Governor.  We believe the Governor will veto the Bill, but this is not necessarily for certain.

WATCH FOR AN ALERT TO CONTACT THE GOVERNOR LATER TODAY:

We will most likely be asking members to make a direct contact with the Governors office today.  Please keep an eye on your e-mails during the day. Yesterday enough Superintendents responded to an alert that I had numerous legislators talk to me about the calls during the day and a couple of staff members were actually upset because they had to spend so much time getting legislators to understand their spreadsheets correctly.  It is good to see that your calls/ e-mails can move things here at the Capitol.

"At the Capitol"....Conferees agree on K-12 Education

This is a report on the work of the Minnesota Legislature as it pertains to K-12 Education to the members of the Minnesota Association of School Administrators (MASA) from Charlie Kyte, Ex Director.

The accompanying audio podcast is 6 minutes long.

House Senate Conferees agree on a k-12 Education Bill:

Overnight, the Senate and House conferees agreed on a K-12 Education Bill.  They worked within the available money and did not propose a tax increase.  This creates a very tight funding situation for schools. 

Below is our initial understanding of what is being proposed. Overall spending is $600 in permanent spending and $200 in one-time spending.

Here are the major parts of the Bill:

1). Closes the cap gap (pro-ration) in special education and increases the funding by 4.6% each year.

2) Increases basic, and associated funding formulas by 2% in the first year and 0% in the second year.

3) Phases in All Day K by investing $43 million in the first year.  This increases the K formula allowance to .62/ PU.

4) $150 million in one-time money as a general capital outlay amount with discretion to use this for a variety of uses.  This amounts to about $150/ PU.

5) Q-Comp is capped, allowing no new districts into the program. 

6) $60 million in a range of miscellaneous programs from GT to Nutrition to Statewide Testing.

7) Allowed a number of fund transfers for individual districts

8) Restortation of the former cut backs in ECFE and Headstart

9) Sets up task forces to compare state vs federal rules in Sp Ed and also to revise the School Accountability Report Card.

Analysis:

Overall the Bill does not get enough money to schools and we are afraid that if this is the solution, there will be serious trouible negotiating contracts and we will continue to see staff reductions and increasing class sizes.

On the other hand, within the available money, the allocation of $'s seems pretty wise.  At least schools won't need to keep diverting regular funds to cover the pro-rations in Sp Ed. The next steps: 

Next steps:

The Senate will need to pass the Bill first and send it to the House.  This will probably happen today.  If passed by both, it will go to the Governor on Thursday or Friday.  There is a likelyhood that the Governor would veto the Bill. 

Another scenario is that prior to passage some accomodation would be worked out with the Governors staff to either enhance the funding and/ or insert some of the things the Governor wants to see in this legislation.

Let leaders know your opinion:

We would encourage members to call key persons to let them know your pleasure or displeasure with this proposed Bill.  I would recommend contacting the following:

Sen Taryl Clark at sen.taryl.clark@senate.minute or 651-296-6455

Rep Mindy Greiling at rep.mindy.greiling@house.minute or 651-296-5387

Gov Pawlenty at 651-296-3391

Stay tuned.  there is at least one more Act in this play!

Other action today.......the Statewide Health Insurance Bill will be heard on the House floor.  It will pass, but it is yet uncertain if any amendments will be approved.  We expect a 3-5 hour debate.

"At the Capitol"...Still waiting!

This report regards the status of the Minnesota 2007 Legislative Session and is directed to the members of the Minnesota Association of School Administrators (MASA)

By: Charlie Kyte

The accompanying audio podcast is 3 minutes long.

STILL WAITING:  "IMMINENT"€ IS STRETCHABLE WORD:

Last Wednesday I indicated that the setting of spending targets for K-12 education were “imminent”.  I really thought they would be set by Saturday with, or without, the Governors agreement.  I was wrong! We are running out of time if we are to see a solution within the regular legislative session.  Perhaps an agreement of some sort will be reached within the next 48 hours.  If so, there is still time to pull an Education Bill together.  If not, we will either see some spending numbers plugged into existing legislation at the last minute, or we will have the figurative ‘train wreck’ that I wrote about 3 weeks ago.

WE BELIEVE THE GOVERNOR UNDERSTANDS THE NEED FOR ADEQUATE K-12 EDUCATION FUNDING:

In our conversations directly with the Governor, and with his representatives, we have had indications that the Governor understands the level of need for funding.  He also continues to want to see K-12 education evolve toward a world class delivery system.  We hope he understands that successful evolution also requires enough basic funding to allow our systems to move forward.

BIG DISAGREEMENT IS NOT SO MUCH ABOUT ‘HOW MUCH’, BUT WHERE THE MONEY IS TO COME FROM:

We don’t believe the Senate, the House and the Governor are all that far apart on the level of need that exists for K-12 education.  The issue is where the money should come from.  The Senate and House indicate that revenues for the state have been short for several years and want to see more revenue via some type of tax increase.

The Governor is just as adamant that the money should come from (1) other areas of government spending, especially by slowing down increases in Health and Human service programs and (2) from stepped up enforcement of tax collections in the state. The legislative leaders can probably agree to # 2 above, but are going to have a hard time with # 1.

STAY TUNED…WE WILL REPORT ANY MAJOR DEVELOPMENTS AS THEY BREAK DURING THE WEEK.

"At the Capitol"....Spending targets imminent!

A report to the members of the Minnesota Association of School Administrators (MASA)on the work of the 2007 Minnesota Legislature.

This podcast is 7 minutes long.  Click twice on the audio bar.

By: Charlie Kyte

K-12 Education spending targets imminent:

We believe that we will see the K-12 spending target within the next few days.  The bigger question is if it will be a target agreed to by the Governor or if it will just be a House-Senate target.  If it is the later, we will put a Bill together and it will probably be vetoed quickly.  Then we will go back to the ‘drawing board’.

End game strategies:

Both the Legislative majority and the Governor are maneuvering around each other right now.  It seems like there strategies are somewhat as follows:

  Legislature:  Hold the major spending Bills and the Tax Bill until last.  Send other Bills to the Governor now in the hope of cornering the Governor into needing a tax increase to fund the final Bills.

 

Governor:  Just keep vetoing almost all the Bills now and keep all options for setting spending priorities on the table until the final moments of the legislative session. 

Remember that the Governor was a leadership legislator in the past and knows how to maneuver in situations like this.  But Speaker Kelliher and Senator Pogemiller are not amateurs either.

MASA Priorities….remind your legislators:

        1) A fair distribution of funding
        2) Fund the pro-ration of Special Education
        3) Fund the basic formulas at 3%

Then if there is money available phase in early childhood and all day kindergarten as well as other new initiatives.

Statewide Health Insurance:

The Statewide Health Insurance Bill is in the House Finance Committee as this report is being posted and is expected to pass.  The Bill will then go to the House Floor next Tuesday.  We hear the republicans already have 34 amendments ready and there will be quite a few from the democrats as well.

Education Minnesota wants what they call ‘a clean Bill’ without amendments.  The most ominous amendment from their point of view (and a wise one from our viewpoint) is called the Commerce Department amendment.  It requires a regulatory over site of this large insurance pool.

Once the House passes the Bill, it goes to a House-Senate Conference Committee and then to the Governor for a signature or a veto.

Next report: We plan to post another report this Friday.

"At the Capitol"....Still waiting with 2 weeks to go!

A report to the members of MASA from the Minnesota State Capitol by Charlie Kyte, Ex Director

By Charlie Kyte

Listen to the podcast.  It is about 6 minutes long.

2 Weeks to go....patience is a virtue:

This is an awkward waiting game.  We are not sure in we should be patient or impatient.  Right now there is a bit of low level lobbying going on and mostly a waiting game.  Once the spending targets are set, things will move quickly.  The issue is 'if' targets can be set that all the players can live with

A report from other states:

K-12 education in North Dakota and Iowa have fared well and their legislative sessions are just over.  Ohio and Michigan's situation look more like disasters.  Listen to the podcast for more information.

Can we finish with out a 'veto' of the K-12 Education Bill:

We believe that the Governor, Senate Majority Leader and Speaker of the House are talking to each other in search of a solution to K-12 Education funding.  It is still unclear if they will be successful.  Our agents indicate that the Governor would prefer to not 'veto' the Education Bill, but that coming up with enough money remains elusive.

Statewide Health Insurance:

This Bill has passed the Senate with some regulatory language amended to it.  The Bill is up in the House Finance Committee this Wednesday and Education Minnesota will try to pass it without any amendments.  This will be a big test for this Bill.  If it passes this committee expect it on the floor of the House within a day or two.

Stay tuned:

We will report again on Wednesday.  Once spending targets are set, things will move very quickly.

"At the Capitol with MASA"...the end game begins

This is a report to the members of the Minnesota Association of School Administrators (MASA) for Monday, April 30th.  It provides information on the beginning of the 'end game' of the legislative session.

By Charlie Kyte

The podcast is 6 1/2 minutes long and can be accessed by clicking the audio bar 2 times.

Three (3) weeks to go in the session

The end game of the session is just beginning.  It is unclear what will actually happen and we sense that the main players are both trying to talk tough and be accommodating at the same time.  There are also many other demands on the resources of the State and there is no solid guarantee that K-12 Education will come away with adequate funding.

The disparity between what is needed and what is available

K-12 Education needs a minimum of $800 million to have minimally adequate funding.  This amount would provide enough to eliminate the pro-ration of the states special education funding and provide 3% each year on the basic formulas.  The problem is that there is about $500 million available without some kind of revenue enhancement.  This is enough to provide the special education funding plus about 1% each year on the formulas.  In addition the Senate, House and Governor each have some appetite for other spending that would use up some of the already scarce resourses.

MASA meets with leadership

Over the past week I have had the opportunity to meet with the key leaders.  In some cases we met as a group of education lobbyists and in other cases I was able to meet individually.  There were meetings with Representative Greiling-head of Representatives on the Conference Committee and Senator Taryl Clark-head of the Senators on the conference committee.  In addition I met with the Governor and with Senator Pogemiller.  Wherever I had the chance, I stressed that we needed $800 million in permanent funding and that it needed to be relatively evenly spread across the districts in the state.

Leadership letter

MASA wrote a letter to the top leaders----Governor Pawlenty, Senator Pogemiller and Speaker of the House Margaret Kelliher-Anderson----stressing the main points articulated above and our willingness to support a number of meaningful improvements in our systems if the basic funding could be provided.  We copied the letter to the education chairs and to the Commissioners.

"At the Capitol"....Shipwreck or successful navigation?

This is a report to the members of the Minnesota Association of School Administrators (MASA) from Executive Director Charlie Kyte.

This podcast is 7 minutes long.

WHERE IS THIS ALL GOING?  SHIPWRECK OR SUCCESSFUL NAVIGATION?

As I travel about the state, I here more and more people (without a connection to education) saying they are fearful that the Governor and Legislature are headed for a shipwreck.  We have two bright and determined politicians in Gov Pawlenty and Senate Majority Leader Pogemiller.  While they don't make all the decisions on their own, they have great influence in how the final result of the legislative session comes out.

By my estimates, there seems to be about an 80% chance or either a shipwreck that produces no settlement, or one side giving in completely.  Neither of these outcomes would be good.

I see about a 20% chance that these two individuals, and the people around them, will rise to the level of statesmanship and find a mutually acceptable solution. From the perspective of K-12 Education, that solution would end the pro-ration of special education funding by the state, provide a reasonable amount of money for ongoing operations and allow some funding for a couple of breakthrough innovations for educating children.

We at MASA will continue to encourage all parties to rise to the statesman level and do what is right for the future of the state.

FEDERAL ADVOCACY TRIP TO WASHINGTON, DC

This Sunday, 9 of us from MASA will leave for Washington, DC to work on the re-authorization of ESEA/ NCLB.  We will bring one MASA member from each congressional district and we have meetings with all of Minnesota's congresspersons, our two US Senators and officials at the US Department of Education. 

In addition we will meet with Rep. Kildee of Michigan who heads the K-12 sub-committee of the US House Education and Workforce Committee.  We will also meet with education committee staff members of both the House and Senate.

"At the Capitol"...Going into Spring Break

A report to the members of the Minnesota Association of School Administrators (MASA) by Charlie Kyte, Executive Director.

This podcast is 11 1/2 minutes long.

THE EDUCATION BILLS HAVE PASSED THE SENATE AND WILL PASS IN THE HOUSE

The House Education Bill will provide about $750 million in permanent funding and about $150 million in one-time funding for schools.  The permanent funding will go primarily to provide a 3% formula increase each year, ratchet up Kindergarten funding to .86FTE and help some with special education funding.  To do this will require more revenue that the House seeks through an income tax increase on high income earnings.

The Senate has two Bills.  The first provides $500 million in Special Education funding that reverses the pro-rations we have been seeing and also provides an inflation factor to each future year.  In addition this Bill provides about $100 million in Property Tax relief.

The second Senate Bill includes another $300 million that provides a 2% formula increase each year, $50 million in new Early Readyness program funding and also about $100 million to control the rate of tuition increases for colleges.  This second Bill would require a tax increase, again on high income tax payers.

These Bills contrast with the Governors initial position which recommended $500 million in permanent funding (2% each year on all formulas) and about $250 million in one time spending for a variety of initiatives.

This is who we are trying to get funding for....our kids!

This is one of the people trying to convince legislators to provide the funding....MASA Lobbyist Valerie Dosland!






EASTER (OR SPRING) BREAK....TIME TO COMMUNICATE

Legislators spend a week in their districts from April 3-April 10.  They will be both listening, and discussing, the legislative issues with citizens.  This is the time for every MASA member to call and arrange to have a cup of coffee with their Senator and Representatives.  If you expect better school funding, you need to make the case this week.  Based on what legislators hear now, they will make hard decisions (one way or the other) in the next 6 weeks of the session.

STATEWIDE HEALTH INSURANCE...A FEW OBSERVATIONS

Health Insurance and Health care are industries undergoing enormous change.  I would argue that smaller groups of insurees will be more adaptable to changing conditions and approaches than very large groups.

A statewide insurance program for educators may prove to be even more expensive than the existing insurance groups because of the need to build up adequate financial reserves to protect the new fund if it is formed.

The Senate did pass the Statewide Health Insurance Bill and it contains what is now referred to as the Scheid Amendment.  This amendment requires a newly forming group to meet the same regulations from the MN Department of Commerce as any other health insurance provider.  These are necessary safeguards if a statewide plan moves forward. 

"At the Capitol"...Omnibus Bills nearing approval

This is a report to the members of the Minnesota Association of School Administrators (MASA) from Charlie Kyte, Executive Director

This podcast is 7 minutes long.

By: Charlie Kyte

Senate and House Education Bills

As I am writing this on Monday afternoon, March26 the Senate Education Bill is on the floor of the Senate, and the House Education Bill will be heard in the House Education Finance Committee this later this afternoon. 

The Senate Bill dedicates all of their funding to the Special Education category.  In addition it provides $100 million in property tax relief, but this relief does not get accounted against the education budget.  The House Bill concentrates funding on the Formula (3% each year), some money for Special Ed and All-Day Kindergarten with the weighting Kindergarten funding at .86FTE.

Once both Bills pass their respective bodies, the real negotiations will begin.  Neither Bill is yet 'fair enough' to all districts and there are significant winners and losers.  As a statewide association we will work to try to smooth the level of funding so that all districts get a fair consideration.  We will also work to increase the states revenues so that there is adequate funding for K-12 education.  

Special Education Funding

There was a very well written opinion article in this Sunday's Star-Tribune.  Our Alliance for Student Achievement group was instrumental in getting this hard to understand issue presented to the public.  Two other areas in Special Ed that we need to concentrate on are 1) an early prevention model (like RTI) and 2) an analysis of Minnesota's requirements versus the Federal IDEA law that will address where we exceed the federal law.

We have pasted these articles at the end of this update.

Early Childhood Funding

The Senate has a unique approach to increasing the funding for early childhood school readiness.  Money for childcare has always been provided through the Health & Human Services Committee and has provided direct grants to eligible families.  Early Education has traditionally been provided through the education committees and goes directly to the providers (ECFE, Headstart, etc).

Now the Senate wants to significantly increase the funding, involve early education programs, but flow the money through the families.  To school people this sounds like a voucher.  To the health community it feels like they are giving up some control to the education providers.  Thus this is a difficult walk to make.

Recently a group of Superintendents shared with Senate Ass’t Majority Leader Clark that the important thing is to get more kids 'Kindergarten Ready'.  They want it done with high quality no matter who provides the readiness education.  They also asked that there be a way to lock any parental decision into place early so that we don't have parents jumping from program to program with their scholarship money.  If schools are providing some of these programs we need to develop staff and program stability from year to year.

Charter Schools

The Senate voted to cap the number of Charter Schools at 150.  Presently there are 131 Charter Schools and 17 in the approval process.  Nick Coleman, in the Star-Tribune on Friday, had a column on why we should be capping this program.