Three components of the MDE proposal were reviewed at the meeting.  The first two drew nearly unanimous support from the working group.  However, tension filled the air when the issue of referendum revenue was taken up. In the end, the working group agreed to keep this component in the mix as the final proposal is developed. 

The three issues reviewed were:

1.    Providing all day kindergarten for at-risk students with the intent to fund it for all children as funding becomes available.

2.    Simplifying the formula by adjusting pupil weightings. 

3.    Creation of a uniform general education levy to incorporate a $400 referendum roll-in and consolidate several miscellaneous levies. 

SEE strongly supports a uniform general education levy to stabilize education funding, lessen the reliance on local referenda and to reduce funding disparities. The current system of using property taxes to fund schools through referendum creates disparities because it is much easier to pass a referendum when commercial and industrial properties lower the tax burden for the residential (and voting) taxpayer.  A uniform general education levy would still raise revenue for schools through property taxes but would not be voter dependent and the burden to similar individual taxpayers across the state would be uniform as the rates will be calculated on the property wealth of the state not the individual district. 

The following graph shows the average referendum in districts based on the districts property wealth.  When reviewing this graph, Education Commissioner Brenda Cassellius asked the working group if this was defensible policy in Minnesota where a child in a high property wealth district receives hundreds of dollars more in educational opportunities than a child is a low property wealth district. 

To determine the wealth quintile, Minnesota's 339 school districts were sorted by its property wealth (average market value per pupil) and evenly separated into five groups from lowest to highest.

An argument was made that most of the high property wealth districts are in the metro area and costs, mainly for labor, are higher in the metro.  Yet, even property wealth within the metro area varies greatly.  The MDE proposal would allow metro districts to levy up to an additional $400 per pupil through local property taxes to address this.    

The tension between using a uniform general education levy or referendum  to make up for inadequate state funding results from the disagreement regarding who should benefit from the property taxes paid by Minnesota businesses - should some of those dollars benefit all Minnesota children or only those in districts where the business physically reside? 

SEE does not believe that Minnesota is honoring its constitutional obligation to provide a general and uniform system of public schools when the quality of child's education is based merely upon their zip code.