ST. PAUL – In an attempt to assist struggling children who have been devastated by the stay-at-home impacts of COVID-19, the Minnesota House debated the merits of two separate proposals designed to provide summer school funding to local school districts. State Representative Bjorn Olson (R-Elmore) noted the bills had distinct differences.
“Very simply, the House Republican version of the bill would have had more funding per pupil and more local control, while the House majority proposal provided less per pupil but sent more to the bureaucracy,” Olson said.
Last week, Minnesota House Republicans attempted to pass legislation that would defray the costs of in-person summer school learning, fund student mental health programs as well as early learning scholarships, and allow the flexibility of local control so schools can meet the needs of their students. Olson said the House majority did not allow this bill to move forward.
Days later, House Democrats presented a plan of their own, which they ultimately approved. Olson said only 27% of the proposed funding actually goes 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. Most importantly, significant portions of the funding in this bill have no in-person requirement. It also gives $1 million to the Department of Education, and millions more to grants to be distributed by the department.
“Local school districts, their teachers, and their parents know what their children have missed over the last year,” Olson said. “To me, it makes the most sense to send resources to the classrooms and allow local control to ensure the proper help is being given to our struggling students.”