Voice of MN Education

Wherever we go in the village...

When we think about school leadership, we of course reflect on the people who benefit from the professional practice of school leaders. Who are those people? The list is long. Students are first on the list. Parents, the school board, staff, community members, legislators, the business community, colleagues, service organizations, faith communities, even our national and international colleagues. So when we say, “it takes a village,” we are referring to a very large village!

As I write this post, our legislators (leaders who also serve a really large “village”) are in the final stages of the 2015 session. The leaders have moved into Governor Dayton’s residence to work out the budget and we are hearing rumors that we may go into conference committee this afternoon. Everybody in our village will feel the impact of the activities of the next few days — cities, counties, schools, higher ed, health care, and so on. While we focus on the needs of our students, these session wrap-ups are a reminder of the diversity of needs that exist within our village, and how lucky we are to be able to respond to most of those needs.

It’s timely that MASA will host a discussion tomorrow, led by Professor John McKnight, about how local schools can help revive the capacity of all within our neighborhoods to educate our students. Professor McKnight says, "For more than a generation, local communities have transferred their traditional child raising functions to schools. As a result, an impossible burden has been placed on teachers who are expected to educate while also taking responsibility for the health, safety, morals and behavior of their students. Fortunately, every neighborhood is rich with unused teaching/learning resources that, when mobilized, can transfer back to the community its functions as a village that raises its children.” We are excited to see what outcomes will result from this rich conversation, and we will eventually share data and resources with our members. 

As our members wrap up the school year and make plans for the next, their interactions with the wider world have the potential to build better and better systems to serve our young people.  So wherever we go in the village, we have the opportunity to bring a message that supports the critical importance of the success and wellbeing of our students and their families.

Take 5 with Gary

   

On today's Take 5, I provide an update on the 2015 MN Legislative session. The educational community is united behind requesting a significant increase in the target for the E-12 budget -- to at least equal the Governor's target. It is imperative that education leaders contact members of the conference committee to insist on the increase. Your voice has an impact!

Also, we are soliciting members for 2015-16 MASA committees! Please let us know if you are interested.

Take 5 with Gary

Take 5 with Gary: April 21, 2015

On today's episode of Take 5, Gary provides a Legislative update on the importance of putting additional funding onto the current Minnesota per pupil formula...

  

"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 ([email protected]) 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 [email protected] or 651-296-6455

Rep Mindy Greiling at [email protected] 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.