THIS IS MASA'S NEW WEBLOG AND AUDIOLOG
You can now see MASA's regular legislative updates right on the internet. Just go to the MASA website (www.mnasa.org) and click on our BLOG.
We will also be posting an AUDIBLOG two to three times a week during the legislative session. Again go to the website and just click the Blog site. Then click the 'audio' player button and listen to Charlie describe the events at the Capitol as they unfold. For those of you who are really sophisticated, automatically sync your ipods to this Blog. Then you can listen as you drive home or evenas you lay restlessly in your beds at night.
2006 MINNESOTA LEGISLATIVE SESSION BEGAN TODAY:
The state capitol is now formally open for business. At 12:00 today both the Minnesota state Senate and the House of Representatives came into session with brief opening ceremonies on the floor of each chamber. Elected officials were dressed in their Sunday best, the new pages scrambled to find their places and lobbyists surged around the chamber entrances.
AFSME, the state employees union held a rousing rally in the capitol rotunda with their cheers and jeers echoing throughout the capitol.
We will now see a few hearings and then a diminished level of activity as the legislators prepare for the local precinct caucuses scheduled for next Tuesday evening, March 7th.
STATE BUDGET FORECAST REMAINS IN THE BLACK
The February budget forecast showed some growth. The overall new $'s available for the biannium come to $181 million. Of this, $93 million is already slated to reverse the rest of the school funding shift that was created during the past budget crisis. About $88 million is available for new state funding.
INTEGRATION AID UNDER SCRUTINY
The House Education Finance Committee held a hearing on Integration Aid and heard a report from the Legislative Auditors Office. The Auditors found that the aid was being spread around without a close correlation to real need. Their assessment showed widely varying levels of aid as compared to minority enrollments in school districts. They also cited the Department of Education for lax oversight of this program.
Expect a tightening of conditions for access to this aid and new levels of MDE oversight. In reviewing the analysis, we noticed that one district with a total enrollment of less than 500 students, and only 1 minority student received over $40,000 in aid, while other school districts with minority enrollments of over 20% received no aid at all. It looks like there is some fine tuning to be done with this program.
MINNEAPOLIS PENSION FUND
The Pension Commission passed a Bill to role the Minneapolis Pension Fund into TRA as of June 30, 2006. In the next few weeks the House will have hearings on this Bill and either pass it or amend it. The Bill, if passed by the full House then would go to the Conference Committee for reconcilliation.
MASA is closely studying the language of this Bill and will bring information forward to our members in about 2 weeks. This is both an important, and a devisive issue and deserves careful scrutiny.
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