New law adjusts school funding formulas to account for COVID-19 closures and distance learning

Since mid-March, Minnesota’s K-12 students have been receiving their education in very different ways. That has not only impacted learning but everything from graduation, grade-level advancement, teacher licensure, employment practices and school funding formulas.

Sponsored by Rep. Jim Davnie (DFL-Mpls) and Sen. Carla Nelson (R-Rochester), a new law, effective May 28, 2020, unless otherwise noted, temporarily adjusts school funding formulas and student data accounts. It will also provide school districts with greater fund transfer authority, allowing them to use funds for programs that aren’t being fully utilized — such as school-aged care, extended time, and childhood screenings — for other purposes.

COVID-19 has impacted K-12 student assessments and in some cases the ability for students to meet all the requirements needed for graduation or grade-level advancement. The law waives the requirement that students must take the Minnesota Comprehensive Assessments this year, and provides that student absences from March 1 through the end of the distance learning period will not count toward truancy referrals.

To aid educators, it alters the minimum days required in the 2019-20 school year for a probationary teacher to serve for credit, provides an additional six months for the completion of calendar year 2020 licensure renewal requirements for licenses issued by the Professional Educator Licensing and Standards Board, and until Oct. 31, 2020 allows a conditional one-year Tier Three teacher license to be issued if they’re unable to get to a testing center. A regular license will be provided once the exam is completed.

There are also provisions within the proposal that aim to protect funding for special education, food programs, community education programs, nonpublic pupil transportation aid, career and technical programs literacy aid, and achievement integration aid. Most of these take effect July 1, 2020.

Finally, the law provides library systems with greater flexibility over the use of their regional library telecommunications aid to expand internet access capabilities and better partner with schools to deliver educational support in a distance learning environment.

HF4415*/SF4369/CH116

HF4415* / SF4369 / CH116