THIRTY SECOND MEETING

STATE OF MINNESOTA THIRTY SECOND MEETING
MN HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES NINETY SECOND SESSION

EDUCATION FINANCE
MINUTES

Representative Jim Davnie, Chair of the Education Finance Committee, called the virtual meeting to order at 10:30am on March 25, 2021 pursuant to House rule 10.01. The meeting is being broadcast via Zoom and House Public Information Services.

The Committee Legislative Assistant noted the roll.

Members present:
DAVNIE, Jim
SANDSTEDE, Julie
KRESHA, Ron
BENNETT, Peggy
DANIELS, Brian
DEMUTH, Lisa
DRAZKOWSKI, Steve
ERICKSON, Sondra
FEIST, Sandra
JORDAN, Sydney
MARQUART, Paul
MUELLER, Patricia
RICHARDSON, Ruth
THOMPSON, John
WOLGAMOTT, Dan
XIONG, Tou
YOUAKIM, Cheryl

A quorum was present.

Rep. Bennett moved that the minutes from March 24, 2021 be approved. Motion prevailed.

HF 1985 (Jordan) School meal programs are funded through parent fees, federal funds, and state aid payments. School meals programs operate under the rules established by the federal government which provides several different types of support. The federal government provides more than $300 million per year to Minnesota’s schools and other sponsors of school lunch programs and Minnesota’s school formulas add roughly $30 million per year in state aid for school nutrition programs. The majority of the federal money is allocated to schools based on the counts of free and reduced-price eligible students at each school. About a decade ago, the federal government created the community eligibility provision (CEP) program which allows high poverty school sites to serve free meals to all the students attending that school site, regardless of the family income status of each student. The CEP funding provided by the federal government is sufficient to cover the full costs at higher poverty sites, but for qualifying school sites with a lower concentration of students eligible for free or reduced-price meals, the federal funds don’t cover the full costs. HF 1985 establishes a framework and state funding source to encourage all qualifying school sites to participate in the CEP program.

Rep. Jordan moved that HF 1985 be presented before the committee; be laid over for possible inclusion in a future omnibus bill.

Rep. Jordan moved that the DE1 author’s amendment to HF 1985 be presented to the committee.

Rep. Jordan moved that an oral amendment be incorporated into the DE1 author’s amendment to HF 1985; oral amendment (strike lines 3.19-3.21). A voice vote was taken. Motion prevailed and the amendments were adopted.

Rep. Jordan presented HF 1985, as amended.

Rep. Jordan renewed the motion that HF 1985, as amended, be laid over for possible inclusion in a future omnibus bill.

HF 1464 (Bliss) Minnesota sets standards for major curricular areas. The standards are generally reviewed and updated on a ten-year cycle. The 2019 science standards were submitted to rulemaking and are scheduled for full implementation during the 2023-2024 school year. HF 1464 appropriates $611,000 for a grant to the Minnesota Science Teachers Association to provide professional development to Minnesota’s science teachers to help implement the 2019 revised science standards. The bill requires the funding to be used to prepare high school science teachers for additional licensure in earth science, and to provide pedagogical and content development for middle school and high school science teachers in earth and space science.

Rep. Mueller moved that HF 1464 be presented before the committee; be laid over for possible inclusion in a future omnibus bill.

Rep. Bliss presented HF 1464.

Rep. Mueller renewed the motion that HF 1464 be laid over for possible inclusion in a future omnibus bill.

HF 965 (Edelson) This bill requires school districts to offer parents of a student with disabilities a meeting with the student’s individualized education program team to determine whether the student requires services ad supports to address the impact of learning disruptions. It appropriates money for the costs of the services and supports, and replaces the state aid with federal aid if federal funds become available for the same purposes.

Rep. Youakim moved that HF 965 be presented before the committee; be laid over for possible inclusion in a future omnibus bill.

Chair Davnie moved that the A1 amendment to HF 965 be presented to and adopted by the committee. A voice vote was taken. Motion prevailed and the amendment was adopted.

Rep. Edelson presented HF 965, as amended.

Rep. Youakim renewed the motion that HF 965, as amended, be laid over for possible inclusion in a future omnibus bill.

HF 1644 (Edelson) This bill amends the hours of instruction requirement by expanding activities that count as hours of instruction, allows districts to provide distance instruction without approval from the Department of Education, and creates a working group to study distance instruction and make recommendations to the legislature.

Rep. Richardson moved that HF 1644 be presented before the committee; be laid over for possible inclusion in a future omnibus bill.

Chair Davnie moved that the A6 author’s amendment to HF 1644 be before the committee.

Rep. Edelson requested an oral amendment.

Chair Davnie moved that the oral amendment be incorporated into the A6 author’s amendment to HF 1644; oral amendment (strike lines 2.23 to 2.26). A voice vote was taken. Motion prevailed and the amendments were adopted.

Rep. Edelson presented HF 1644, as amended.

Rep. Richardson renewed the motion that HF 1644, as amended, be laid over for possible inclusion in a future omnibus bill.

HF 2357 (Youakim) School districts, charter schools, and cooperative units receive state aid, and a relatively small amount of federal aid to provide special education service to their students. The state and federal aid do not cover the full costs of special education services. The difference between a school district’s special education spending and its special education revenue is called its special education cross subsidy. A school may also bill certain qualifying health-related services provided to some special education services to Medical Assistance. Most unreimbursed special education costs incurred by charter schools and cooperative units are billed back to the student’s resident school district. HF 2357 increases special education aid, authorizes property tax levies for unfunded special education access fees and certain special education facilities costs billed back to their member districts by cooperative units, encourages more participation in third party billing by charter schools and cooperative units (which reduces the amounts charged back to resident school districts), and limits the hourly service rate for special education services that are billed back to the school district of residence.

Rep. Youakim moved that HF 2357 be presented before the committee; be laid over for possible inclusion in a future omnibus bill.

Rep. Youakim presented HF 2357.

Rep. Youakim renewed the motion that HF 2357 be laid over for possible inclusion in a future omnibus bill.

Testifiers:
Louise Iverson, General Mills Foundation
Carl Childs, Youth, Appetite for Change
Claire Chase, Parent, Cass Lake Bena Schools
Leah Gardner, Policy Director, Hunger Solutions Minnesota
Dana Smith, 6th Grade Science Teacher, Bemidji Middle School
Maren Hulden, Legal Services Advocacy Project
Deqa Farah, Parent
Rhoda Mhiripiri-Reed, Superintendent, Hopkins Public Schools
Arjun Maheshwari, Senior Student, Edina High School
Shana Morse, Assistant Director of Government Relations, MN Department of Education
Marcy Doud, Assistant Superintendent of Specialized Services, St. Paul Public Schools


The meeting of the Education Finance Committee was adjourned 11:59am.


______________________________________________
Representative Jim Davnie, Chair

______________________________________________
Brittney Sunderland, Committee Legislative Assistan