 Dear Neighbors, Back-to-School season is underway! As the wife of a school teacher and a mother of three college graduates, I know that the start of the school year can be a mix of emotions and a flurry of activity. I’m wishing all students, families, teachers, support staff, and administrators a smooth start to the school year!  As a legislator and the former Chair, and current Co-Chair, of the House Education Committee, I am proud of the work we did last biennium. We sought and enacted bold solutions to looming challenges such as: addressing 20 years of underfunding our schools by indexing the education formula to inflation and guaranteeing at least a 2% annual increase, investing in the READ Act to improve literacy rates, increasing funding for student support staff to address student mental health, and universal free school meals to make sure every student has the nutrition they need to learn. Last legislation session, economic uncertainty and mercurial changes at the federal level led to hard decisions and unfortunate reductions in education funding. With a 67-67 tie in the State House, it took extra time to negotiate the final K-12 bill both with our House GOP counterparts and the DFL-led Senate. But we successfully fought off attempts to dismantle free school meals for our students and kept as many cuts out of the classroom as we could. As students across Minnesota head back to school, I’d also like to share an important reminder from the Department of Revenue: Save those back-to-school shopping receipts! Minnesota offers two valuable K-12 tax benefits that can help offset education costs: K-12 Education Credit (refundable, income limits apply) - Last year: 44,000+ families received this credit
- Average benefit: $379 per family
K-12 Education Subtraction (no income limits) - Last year: 114,000+ families claimed this benefit
- Average benefit: $1,438 per family
Eligible students must be in grades K-12 at public, private, or qualified home schools. Purchases made this year can be claimed on next year's tax return. I am wishing all students, families, teachers, and school staff that the year ahead is filled with lots of learning, new friends, and good health. Please feel free to contact me anytime with questions, input, or suggestions at rep.cheryl.youakim@house.mn.gov or 651-296-9889. Email is the quickest way to get in touch. Thank you! Take care,  Cheryl Youakim
State Representative |