Dear Neighbors,
We’re wrapping up a busy week at the State Capitol as we approach the spring legislative recess! In the first few months of session, we heard hundreds of bills and gathered testimony from the public and experts. Over the last few weeks, each House committee has put together a package of bills they’ve heard that reflect their priorities in the area they’re responsible for - Workforce, E-12 Education, Labor, Health, Public Safety, State Government, and so on. This week, legislators have held hearings to discuss each of these proposals in detail and gather input from Minnesotans.
I will keep you informed as we continue advancing these omnibus bills after we come back from recess on April 18th. Please stay tuned, and feel free to share your questions and feedback.
Investing in Minnesota Students
Public schools are the center of our communities and the cornerstone of our democracy. We know the work to strengthen public education in Minnesota schools won’t be complete in one session, but the House DFL majority believes this year’s surplus offers a unique opportunity to turn around the decades of underinvestment in our schools. That’s why on Monday, House DFLers released a plan to invest more than $3 billion in education.
Our E-12 Education plan addresses funding shortfalls that many districts experience, including Minneapolis and Richfield Public Schools. More than $500 million per year is included to help school districts cover the cost of providing special education and English language learner services, programs they’re required to offer but struggle to pay for without sufficient state and federal support.
The proposal contains $475 million to support students and help them maintain their mental, physical, social, and emotional wellbeing. The funding would allow schools to hire more than 1,000 additional counselors, social workers, psychologists, nurses, and chemical dependency specialists.
Our plan also establishes a statewide voluntary pre-kindergarten program for four-year-olds. Children who are least likely to have access to early learning opportunities - kids from low-income families, in foster care, experiencing homelessness or housing insecurity, or who have a teenage or incarcerated parent - will be eligible for this program. It will put thousands of children on the path to success in school and in life and help close Minnesota’s opportunity gaps.
In total, our plan invests more than $3 billion - approximately 33 percent of our state’s budget surplus - in education. Senate Republicans want to spend about $30 million on education. That’s just 0.3 percent of our historic surplus. They would spend 30 percent of the surplus on a corporate tax bailout that will benefit Minnesota’s largest corporations and another 30 percent on tax cuts that would disproportionately go to wealthy Minnesotans. This stark difference shows us where Senate Republicans’ priorities lie, but I will do everything I can to ensure public schools get the funding they need to support our students and to move towards our long-term goal of fully funding public schools.
Stay Connected
Feel free to contact me if you have questions or feedback you’d like to share. You can reach me at rep.emma.greenman@house.mn or give me a call at (651) 296-4200.
Sincerely,
Emma Greenman
State Representative