Legislative UpdateWith summer going by so quickly, families and school districts are looking towards the upcoming school year. This past legislative session, the House and Senate majority party enacted more than 65 new mandates on Minnesota school districts. Along with those mandates, they allowed school boards to renew existing levies on those living in their school districts without the renewal appearing on a ballot. This means voters will have no direct say in whether their tax dollars will go towards that levy. While raising or adding a new levy will continue to require voter approval, we should be focused on reducing reliance on property taxes to fund education instead of making it easier to raise taxes. Not all the new requirements are necessarily unfunded, but they are mandates. Not all the mandates are necessarily bad ideas. However, the total number of new mandates are both overwhelming and costly. It will take time for school districts to sort out the new requirements they need to meet. Among the new mandates are dozens of new policy adjustments. New requirements for school districts include: - Hourly school workers, such as bus drivers and cafeteria staff, will be eligible for unemployment insurance during summer breaks
- Requires offering a course in ethnic studies
- Personal finance courses will be required for high school graduation
- Civics courses will be required in grade 11 or 12
- Boys and girls bathrooms will be required to have menstrual products available
- Free breakfast and lunch every school day will be provided to K-12 students
- The use of suspension, expulsion, and recess denial as consequences due to poor behavior for elementary school students will be severely curtailed
- Districts are to hire preschool teachers licensed by the state
- All school employees will receive full pay and benefits on e-learning days
- Districts are required to include plans for gender neutral bathrooms/locker rooms in planning for new construction or renovations
These mandates will be difficult for our local school districts to manage. I will continue to work on strengthening our education system by empowering our teachers and local districts, instead of using top-down mandates to impose the will of bureaucrats on our schools. Around the DistrictFollowing the conclusion of the legislative session, I have been spending time visiting with many residents in our district on concerns that have an impact to our lives. I have been to County Board meetings, City Council meetings, and local festivals. August marks the time where our district will be holding County Fairs. I hope to meet many of you during these get togethers.  It was great to meet with Sibley County Commissioners Koch, Kreger, Grochow, Saxton, and Lilienthal last week! |