Dear Neighbors,
It’s been a busy week in St. Paul as bills have started moving off the House floor in recent days. On Tuesday, Democrats advanced legislation that represents Governor Walz’s recommendations for summer education for preschool, tutoring, community programs, mental health, and adult education.
Sadly, instead of working to get more kids back in the classroom this summer in an effort to make up for lost time resulting from forced school closures, the Democrats’ bill instead gives more money to interest groups.
All told, only 27% of the funds in the bill go toward summer programs for K-12 students to address learning loss, and only 36 percent of the funding in this bill goes directly to schools. More importantly, significant portions of the funding in this bill have no in-person requirement which is the entire point of funding summer school programming.
This is wrong.
Instead of providing funding to bureaucrats, we should be looking for ways to get kids back in the classroom and make sure local school districts have the resources they need to make this happen.
That’s why House Republicans offered an amendment to the bill that would have put dollars directly in the classroom, and directly to in-person learning so students can catch up from Governor Walz's year of keeping schools closed.
An entire generation of students has been severely impacted by these closures. It’s time to make this right.
House Democrats Release Budget
This week, House Democrats released details of their 2022-2023 budget proposal.
The release of the budget confirms that, just like Governor Walz, House Democrats will seek to raise taxes on Minnesotans at a time when the state has a multibillion-dollar budget surplus, is receiving billions from the federal government, and is sitting on billions in budget reserves.
It is tone-deaf and unacceptable to ask Minnesotans to pay more in taxes when state government has never been more flush with cash.
I will have more details on their budget proposal in the days and weeks ahead.
Staying in Touch
Please continue to reach out to me to share your questions, thoughts, or concerns. I can be reached by phone at 651-296-4293 or via email at rep.john.poston@house.mn.
Have a great weekend,
John