Dear Lakeville Neighbors,
We’ve finished Labor Day weekend, closing out another amazing Minnesota summer. It has been wonderful seeing many of you around Lakeville over the past couple months. One of my highlights was spending lots of time at Pan-O-Prog activities. It’s one of the best events of the year. We made a short video from this year’s celebration.
Now that summer is coming to a close, I thought it’d be a good time to keep you updated on some legislative issues.
Education Funding
The new state budget took effect on July 1st, which means schools around the state will see increased investment thanks to our $1.35 billion K-12 funding increase in the next two years. That’s significant dollars that will help learners throughout Minnesota. The bill also provided $50 million critical funding in proven early education programming like pre-K scholarships and School Readiness efforts. Locally, it will also have a big impact. Lakeville schools are set to receive $4.4 million of new dollars to help our students. I was proud to vote for this bill, and am excited to see the positive local effects for years to come.
The bill also included important reforms like ending the default “last in, first out” layoff policy, and fixing our cumbersome teacher licensure system. These reforms are common sense measures to help find and retain the very best teachers for our classrooms.
Remember to be safe in School Zones and around buses dropping off or picking up students. In an attempt to increase safety near buses, the fine for passing a school bus with its STOP sign increased to $500. Lakeville Police has been known to monitor the streets around the high schools. We want them to be there and help keep us all safe on the roads. Please tell your student drivers to also slow down and drive respectfully.
Fixing Roads and Bridges
Our plan to invest $4.9 billion in transportation over the next decade started this summer. We were able to leverage existing transportation-related taxes – rather than raising new taxes – to make this sizable investment. We prioritize roads and bridges with $300 million for roads in the next two years and $25 million to fix 97 bridges around the state.
Metro counties, like Dakota, will also share $10 million in a new funding account to reduce congestion. We also helped the metro Counties Transit Improvement Board, also known as CTIB realize their disbanding, which will be a huge benefit for Dakota County’s ongoing transportation funding. Included is my provision to permit former CTIB counties like Dakota to use funds generated under CTIB, to be used for roads and bridges, not just transit.
New Laws
Many of the things we passed officially became law this summer. House Information has two great rundowns of the laws that took effect on July 1 and August 1. We had a historically productive session, so it’s rewarding to see some of these major provisions start to make an impact.
State Supreme Court Case
We’re still waiting to hear back from the Minnesota Supreme Court whether the governor’s attempt to defund the legislature is Constitutional. I’m hopeful the ruling will come back in our favor as the people of Minnesota deserve to have their voice heard and represented in the legislature.
Please Contact Me
Please reach out if you have a comment, concern or suggestion. You can reach me at (651) 296-6926 or Rep.Jon.Koznick@house.mn. Also, please forward this email to neighbors or friends that would be interested in keeping up with legislative business.
Have a wonderful week,
Jon Koznick
State Representative, Lakeville, 58A