STATE OF MINNESOTA TWENTY-NINTH MEETING
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES EIGHTY-FIFTH SESSION
K-12 EDUCATION FINANCE COMMITTEE
MINUTES
Representative Mindy Greiling, Chair of the Committee, called the meeting to order at 2:15PM on March 14, 2007, in Room 10 of the State Office Building.
The Committee Legislative Assistant noted the roll.
Members present:
GREILING, Mindy (Chair)
MORROW, Terry (Vice-Chair)
BENSON, John
BROWN, Robin
DAVNIE, Jim
DEMMER, Randy
DETTMER, Bob
DITTRICH, Denise
DOMINGUEZ, Willie
ERICKSON, Sondra
FAUST, Tim
GAROFALO, Pat
HEIDGERKEN, Bud
HILSTROM, Deb
MARIANI, Carlos
MARQUART, Paul
McFARLANE, Carol
MORGAN, Will
MURPHY, Mary
OLSON, Mark
SWAILS, Marsha
Members excused:
ANZELC, Tom
A quorum was not present.
HF1717 (Welti) A bill for an act relating to education; authorizing transportation aid for school districts that provide flexible learning year programs.
Representative Welti and Jerry Williams, Superintendent, Rochester Public Schools, testified.
HF1412 (Benson) A bill for an act relating to education finance; creating a location equity index; modifying the general education revenue formula; increasing revenue for some school districts.
Representative Benson, Scott Croonquist, Executive Director, Association of Metropolitan School Districts and Brad Lundell, Executive Director, Schools for Equity in Education, testified.
Public testimony on HF1412 was provided by the following individuals:
Vernae Hasbergen, Legislative Analyst, Minnesota Rural Education Association (con)
A quorum was present at 2:25pm.
Representative Benson moved HF1412 be laid over for possible inclusion in the Omnibus K-12 Finance Bill.
Representative Benson moved to amend HF1412 as follows:
Page 1, line 14, delete ‘0.5' and insert ‘0.83’
Page 1, line 15, delete ‘0.3’ and insert ‘0.33’ and delete ‘0.15’ and insert ‘-0.16’
THE MOTION PREVAILED. THE AMENDMENT WAS ADOPTED.
Representative Dominguez moved the afternoon minutes of March 13, 2007 be adopted.
THE MOTION PREVAILED AND THE MINUTES ARE APPROVED.
Representative Swails moved the evening minutes of March 13, 2007 be adopted.
THE MOTION PREVAILED AND THE MINUTES ARE APPROVED.
Representative Heidgerken moved HF1717 be laid over for possible inclusion in the Omnibus K-12 Finance Bill.
HF1702 (Faust) A bill for an act relating to education finance; phasing in changes to Minnesota’s school finance system; creating a legislative task force.
Representative Faust moved HF1702 be laid over for possible inclusion in the Omnibus K-12 Finance Bill.
Representative Faust and Greg Vandal, Superintendent, Sauk Rapids-Rice Public Schools, testified.
Public testimony on HF1702 was provided by the following individuals:
Mary Cecconi, Executive Director, Parents United (pro)
Brad Lundell, Executive Director, Schools for Equity in Education (pro)
Sam Walseth, Director of Legislative Action, Minnesota Rural Education Association (pro)
Scott Croonquist, Executive Director, Association of Metropolitan School Districts (pro)
HF1561 (Faust) A bill for an act relating to education; establishing early intervention AYP grants; increasing the formula allowance.
Representative Faust moved HF1561 be laid over for possible inclusion in the Omnibus K-12 Finance Bill.
Representative Faust, Chris McHugh, Executive Director, SCRED, Kimberly Gibbons, Ph.D., Director of Special Education, St. Croix River Education District
Public testimony on HF1561 was presented by the following individuals:
Victoria Weinberg, Ph.D., Program Director, MN Learning Disabilities Association (pro)
HF1718 (Heidgerken) A bill for an act relating to education finance; modifying integration revenue.
Representative Heidgerken moved HF1718 be laid over for possible inclusion in the Omnibus K-12 Finance Bill.
Representative Heidgerken moved to amend HF1718 as follows:
Page 2, line 3, delete ‘13’ and insert ’14.5’
Page 2, line 4, delete ‘of more than 100 percent’
Page 2, line 9, strike ‘and’
Page 2, line 12, strike period and insert ‘; and’
Page 2, after line 12, insert: ‘(8) if the revenue required by clause (6) is greater than the loss in revenue under clause (5) for fiscal year 2009, the commissioner shall reduce the revenue to districts under clauses (5) and (6) by that amount by scaling the reductions in inverse proportion to the district’s ratio of protected students to its total enrollment for that year.’
THE MOTION PREVAILED. THE AMENDMENT WAS ADOPTED.
Representative Heidgerken, Representative Otremba, Donald Hansen, Superintendent, Long Prairie Public Schools and Bruce Watkins, Superintendent, St. Cloud Public Schools, testified.
The meeting recessed at 3:50PM.
The meeting resumed at 6:05PM.
HF1174 (Dominguez) A bill for an act relating to education; establishing the Minnesota reading corps program.
Representative Dominguez moved HF1174 be laid over for possible inclusion in the Omnibus K-12 Finance Bill.
Representative Dominguez, Marianne Norris, Principal, Bethune Elementary School, Courtney Woodhull, Americorps Volunteer, Bethune Elementary School, Teshaun Wade, student, Bethune Elementary School, and Christina Sheran, Ph.D, Literacy Coach, Minneapolis Public Schools, testified.
HF1568 (Hornstein) A bill for an act relating to education finance; modifying the pupil transportation formulas for charter schools.
Representative Greiling moved HF1568 be laid over for possible inclusion in the Omnibus K-12 Finance Bill.
Representative Hornstein and Jim Grathwol, Lobbyist, Minneapolis Public Schools, testified.
Public testimony on HF1568 was provided by the following individuals:
Eugene Piccolo, Executive Director, Minnesota Association of Charter Schools (pro)
John Schroeder, Coordinator, Education Evolving (pro)
Joe Nathan, Director of Center for School Change, Minnesota Public Schools (pro)
Jon Bacal, President, Hiawatha Leadership Academy (pro)
HF1566 (Hornstein) A bill for an act relating to education finance; increasing the safe schools levy by $5 per pupil unit.
Representative Greiling moved HF1566 be laid over for possible inclusion in the Omnibus K-12 Finance Bill.
Representative Greiling offered
H1566A1 as an amendment to HF1566.
Discussion followed.
Representative Greiling withdrew amendment
H1566A1.
Representative Hornstein, Jim Grathwol, Lobbyist, Minneapolis Public Schools, and Tim Carney testified.
Public testimony on HF1566 was offered by the following individuals:
Eugene Piccolo, Executive Director, Minnesota Association of Charter Schools (pro)
HF1415 (Hortman) A bill for an act relating to education finance; authorizing a levy for certain hazardous pupil transportation services.
Representative Dittrich moved HF1415 be laid over for possible inclusion in the Omnibus K-12 Finance Bill.
Representative Hortman and Representative Dittrich testified.
Public testimony on HF1415 was provided by the following individuals:
Brad Lundell, Lobbyist, MN Association For Pupil Transportation (pro)
Grace Schwab, Governmental Relations Director, MN School Boards Association (pro)
HF1559 (Dittrich) A bill for an act relating to education; providing for master teacher training in economics and personal finance.
Representative Dittrich moved HF1559 be laid over for possible inclusion in the Omnibus K-12 Finance Bill.
Representative Dittrich, Claudia Parliament, Executive Director, Minnesota Council on Economic Education, Eric Britt, President, Anchor Bank of St. Paul and Board Member, Minnesota Council on Economic Education, and Jim Barthelomew, Education Policy Director, Minnesota Business Partnership and Board Member, Minnesota Council on Economic Education, testified.
HF234 (Benson) A bill for an act relating to education finance; eliminating certain school district reserve fund requirements; eliminating certain reports; making certain primary elections discretionary.
Representative Benson moved HF234 be laid over for possible inclusion in the Omnibus K-12 Finance Bill.
Representative Benson, Lois Rockney, Chief Business Officer, St. Paul Public Schools, and Tom Melcher, Ph.D., Director of Program Finance at the Minnesota Department of Education, testified.
Representative Benson offered
H0234A4 as an amendment to HF234.
THE MOTION PREVAILED. THE AMENDMENT WAS ADOPTED.
Representative Benson offered
H0234A5 as an amendment to HF234.
THE MOTION PREVAILED. THE AMENDMENT WAS ADOPTED.
Representative Erickson offered
H0234A3 as an amendment to HF234.
Discussion followed.
Representative Erickson requested a roll call vote for
H0234A3. The results are as follows:
AYES
BROWN, Robin
DEMMER, Randy
DETTMER, Bob
DITTRICH, Denise
ERICKSON, Sondra
GAROFALO, Pat
HEIDGERKEN, Bud
McFARLANE, Carol
MORGAN, Will
MORROW, Terry
SWAILS, Marsha
NAYS
BENSON, John
DAVNIE, Jim
DOMINGUEZ, Willie
FAUST, Tim
GREILING, Mindy
MARIANI, Carlos
ABSENT
ANZELC, Tom
HILSTROM, Debra
MARQUART, Paul
OLSON, Mark
On a vote of 11 AYES and 6 NAYS THE MOTION PREVAILED.
THE MOTION PREVAILED. THE AMENDMENT WAS ADOPTED.
Public testimony on HF234 was provided by the following individuals:
Tom Melcher, Ph.D., Director of Program Finance at the Minnesota Department of Education
Jim Bartholomew, Education Political Director, Minnesota Business Partnership
Valerie Dosland, Lobbyist, MN Association of School Business Officials
HF1197 (Mariani) A bill for an act relating to education; providing for prekindergarten through grade 12 education, including general education, education excellence, special programs, facilities and technology, nutrition and accounting, libraries, early childhood education, self-sufficiency and lifelong learning, and early childhood education.
Representative Mariani moved HF1197 be laid over for possible inclusion in the Omnibus K-12 Finance Bill.
Representative Mariani offered
H1197A7 as an amendment to HF1197.
THE MOTION PREVAILED. THE AMENDMENT WAS ADOPTED.
Representative Mariani, Tom Melcher, Ph.D., Director of Program Finance at the Minnesota Department of Education, Chas Anderson, Deputy Commissioner, Minnesota Department of Education, and Karen Carlson, Director, Early Learning Services, Minnesota Department of Education, testified.
Representative Morrow assumed the gavel at 8:17pm.
HF236 (Greiling) A bill for an act relating to education finance; authorizing school districts to delay the implementation of special education tuition billing for an additional two years.
Representative Greiling moved HF236 be laid over for possible inclusion in the Omnibus K-12 Finance Bill.
Representative Greiling testified.
Public testimony on HF236 was provided by the following individuals:
Valerie Dosland, Lobbyist, MN Association of School Business Officials, Minnesota Association of School Administrators, and Intermediate School Districts (pro)
The meeting adjourned at 8:30PM.
Rep. Mindy Greiling, CHAIR
Elizabeth Mandelman
Committee Legislative Assistant