The House heard HF2475 - K-12 Education Finance Omnibus bill.  The House proposes giving every district an additional $51 per pupil unit and allows each district to shift an additional $51 per pupil unit from their capitol budget reserve account (if they have these funds available) to their district operating fund.  Each $51 per pupil increase is equal to 1% increase in basic formula funding.  Both the state aid and the transfer option are one-time emergency funding to help our schools and cannot be counted on to be available the following year.   The total cost of the state aid portion is $49 million dollars and the house plans to generate this revenue by using unused Q-comp funds, state budget reserves and 4% cut in the Minnesota Department of Education budget. 

Other provisions in the bill include

• The Department of Education will develop and implement a growth-based indicator that measures student improvement or progress over time.  Then both the academic achievement (test results) and student growth (student improvement) shall be reported in both federal and state report cards and adequate yearly progress data.  This acknowledges that tests results do not give the complete picture of how a school is performing.  Many times, how much a student improves from year to year is a better indicator of how well a school district is meeting the needs of different students.
• Changes the language that appears on the ballot to renew a school operating referendum from " . . . you may be voting for a property tax increase . . . " to ". . . you are not changing your operating referendum from its level in the previous year. . . "
• Dedicates any future increases in the permanent school fund income to schools for technology. 
• Provides $400,000 for a grant to the Principal's Leadership Institute.  (A governor initiative.)