Dear Neighbor,
We’re in the calm before the storm in the 2025 session. Or maybe there won’t be a storm at all. All we really know for certain is the legislature has a May 19 deadline to pass a new two-year state budget and adjourn on time.
The ambiguity over the rest of this session is because we are in unfamiliar territory, working to secure bipartisan agreement on a new state budget with a 67-67 party split in the House. But that’s actually a good thing because, if not for House Republicans restoring balance at the Capitol, the Democrats would most definitely be raising taxes yet again after passing $10 billion worth in 2023.
In fact, they've been very open about it. Earlier this week, we had a robust debate in the Education Finance Committee regarding money that’s been wasted providing school lunches for families who are more than able to pay for them. As previously stated, there are millions of dollars lying on the bottom lines of school districts’ nutrition accounts that can’t be used for things like repairing roofs, hiring teachers to bolster classrooms, etc. During the committee meeting, we discussed providing school districts with flexibility to reallocate some of those dollars to their general budgets so that they can meet the unique needs of their community.
Rather than take the proposal seriously, Democrats fell back on their bumper-sticker rhetoric of taking food from kids, which is ridiculous because kids were eating before Democrats passed their $200 million program – which has already spent $267 million in the first year – and, if we made this change, kids would continue to eat.
Not only did committee Democrats fall back on their talking points, but they also talked very openly about what they called “raising revenue,” which is a fancy talk for taking more money from you, the taxpayers. In reality, and Democrats are saying you shouldn’t be responsible for feeding your own kids, but they’re going to tax you more so they can take credit for feeding your kids.
Democrats have made it crystal clear this school lunch issue is entirely political rather than practical. One member even went so far as to highlight how effective for messaging on school lunches was for her last fall. That, right there, eliminated any lingering doubt regarding what this is all about to Democrats.
Back in the real world, we are facing a $6 billion deficit and need to be practical instead of political. A press conference was conducted to outline the priorities House Republicans share with most Minnesotans: local control, funding flexibility and mandate relief for our schools. Republican members of the Education Finance Committee are prioritizing reallocating funds from programs that don't directly benefit the classroom or students so school districts can make their own decisions about how to maximize funds and best run their classrooms.
We would be remiss if we didn’t remind folks about the governor wanting to gut education by more than $240 million in 2026-27 and another $445 million in 2028-29. This includes ideologically driven cuts to merit-based teacher compensation (Q Comp), special education transportation, non-public pupil support and a handful of other areas that collectively harm non-traditional students.
The good news? Republicans aren't going to let that happen, which all sets the stage for a pretty interesting finish to the session. To this point things have been relatively calm and collaborative since the House’s tie was restored, but we anticipate the rhetoric is going to turn up as we move past the deadlines and start having tough talks about how to land this session’s plane.
In other words, the kumbaya moment is going to deteriorate as Democrats fight for their radical priorities and Republicans fight for what’s best for our constituents.
Sincerely,
Walter