Above, thank you to Bemidji State University social work students for visiting the Capitol this week to discuss issues related to their cause. Also thank you to Gretchen Bryngelson and Erin Rizzi, below, for meeting with me during Bemidji Nursing Students Day on the Hill.
Dear Neighbor,
The House recently has had a very busy floor schedule as we vote on omnibus finance bills that fund various parts of the state’s budget for the next two years.
Taxes, transportation and K-12 education are three that seem to attract much of the attention. I covered taxes in last week’s email, so here is a rundown of the other two, starting with K-12 education, where a provision I authored would be a big boost for Bemidji schools by improving its transportation funding situation.
The K-12 bill would provide Bemidji with approximately $340,000 more annually for transporting students ($11 million statewide). That appropriation may not fully erase the Bemidji’s transportation shortfall, but it would significantly help the problem.
There were some interesting twists and turns along the way with this part of the bill. A House proposal to increase school transportation funding mainly for exurban and rural districts moved through the committee process with relative ease. It then was set aside for consideration to be part of the House’s big K-12 package. One problem: The bus funding was nowhere to be found when the K-12 bill was first made public.
I met with the K-12 committee chair and tracked down House leadership. I basically got in the ear of anyone involved to make our case and tell them how important this bus money is to us. I made it clear that we have to find a way to get this money in the bill, or there are going to be big problems up in Bemidji.
The message must have gotten through, because the increased bus funding was added in time to be included in the K-12 bill as it passed the full House. Time will tell if it survives in the end.
As for the overall bill, it provides a $1.1 billion funding increase to the K-12 budget for 2018-19. There is more than $300 million for early-learning programs. Another $22 million goes toward a new, targeted academic achievement initiative that funds before-school, after-school and summer programs to help low-income children.
As for transportation, the House approved a plan to invest $6 billion over the next 10 years toward the state’s transportation needs without raising taxes.
The proposal creates a new fund of existing tax revenue streams called the Transportation Priorities Fund. This new fund uses current, transportation-related state tax revenues to invest $450 million in new dollars for roads and bridges.
I have been consistent in saying the state has enough revenue to improve our transportation system without raising the gas tax as the governor proposes. This bill supports that position by directing sales taxes we already pay on purchases such as auto parts toward roads and bridges.
In the big picture, transportation makes up a very small percentage of the state budget. There is room within the existing budget to provide more money for roads and bridges if we stay focused and treat it as the priority people in our district view it as.
Thanks for the continued input and look for more news soon from St. Paul. Until then, enjoy what the forecasts say will be a fantastic weekend.
Sincerely,
Matt