Many who been around for a long time are asking, "What ANOTHER task force to revamp the broken education funding formula?"  Yet, the Governor along with MDE Commissioner Cassellius and MDE Finance Director Tom Melcher seem determined to develop a funding formula that will work for all kids.  Read the MDE press release which includes links to a list of the working group members and meeting schedule.  All meetings are open to the public. 

MDE laid out the following preliminary proposals for funding reform as starting point for discussions:

·         Investing in early learning, with resources targeted first to all-day kindergarten for students living in poverty;

·         Lessening reliance on local referenda by rolling a portion of referendum revenue into the basic general education formula to provide a more adequate, uniform and stable funding base for all districts and charter schools, and reduce funding disparities;

·         Rolling integration funding into the general education program, with resources targeted to close the achievement gap;

·         Reforming the calculation of compensatory education revenue to target funding more directly based on need as measured by statewide assessments of student learning;

·         Simplifying education funding by eliminating unnecessary formulas and simplifying how students are counted for funding purposes;

·         Re-establishing a uniform levy to support the general education formula by consolidating existing school levies, without an overall increase in school levies.

·         Allocating a portion of general education revenue to schools with outstanding levels of growth in student performance, with a portion of the funds used to maintain the outstanding performance and a portion used to disseminate best practices to other schools.

·         Equitably sharing of excess special education costs between the resident school district and the serving school district or charter school for open-enrolled students.

This presentation from Tom Melcher outlines the working group's goals, the working assumptions and details the starting provisions. 

Strong support in the executive office is key to moving true reform along.  The work group is to deliver its final recommendations to the governor by early June.  Obviously with this timing, education funding reform will be addressed next session.  Change is urgently needed and, hopefully, all our elected officials will have political will to move forward on comprehensive funding reform for the sake of all Minnesota's children.