Greetings –
The legislature met Monday's constitutional adjournment deadline after several late night sessions, where we passed good budget bills that fund necessary services across our state. There was bipartisan support of the budget bills in both chambers, with strong advocates for the funding we provided to areas such as health and human services, agriculture, transportation, and education. We will be keeping you up to date over the next week as Governor Dayton takes action on these bills.
Unfortunately, Governor Dayton announced Tuesday that he is vetoing our bipartisan K-12 Education budget bill due to the fact that we did not include a costly, damaging universal pre-K mandate. Understanding that every student learns differently and that Minnesota families ought to have the right and responsibility to choose pre-K education that fits their needs, I have long been an advocate of scholarships for pre-K programs that give families options. Governor Dayton’s one-size-fits-all mandate would be extremely costly to our school district, forcing schools to increase taxes and levies to fund new classrooms, more teachers, and increased supply costs.
Our K-12 Education budget increased funding by more than $400 million statewide, an increase of $205 per student on average. It had strong bipartisan support, passing the Senate 54-14 and passing the House 71-59. I’m disappointed that Governor Dayton would veto a good bill over an unpopular and costly mandate.
As the week continues and Governor Dayton either signs or vetoes our budget bills, I will continue to update you on those bills and the provisions they contained. Please stay in touch with any questions by calling me at (651) 296-3780 or emailing me at rep.tim.odriscoll@house.mn.
Tim O’Driscoll