May 21, 2009
Next AMSD Board of Directors Meeting is Friday, May 29
The next AMSD Board meeting is Friday, May 29 from 7-9 a.m. in the TIES Building. Our guest speakers include Deputy MDE Commissioner Chas Anderson, Dr. Tom Melcher and MDE Government Relations Manager Michelle Weber. They will be providing a summary of education related legislation adopted during the 2009 session, the latest information about potential unallotments, accounting shifts, ARRA funding, etc. Please feel free to invite interested board colleagues and district staff to attend this meeting.
MDE Web Page
Be sure to monitor the MN Department of Education web site for updates on ARRA funding, grant programs, etc. The site has been updated with new information recently:
http://education.state.mn.us/MDE/About_MDE/News_Center/Fed_Stimulus_Update/index.html
Education Spending Report
I am attaching a report commissioned by Parents United and conducted by the School of Business at Hamline University for your review. The report contains excellent information related to state spending on education, the impact of inflation on education and regional cost differences. We will be featuring information from the report in upcoming editions of our Connections newsletter.
Have a great Memorial Day weekend and I hope to see you at the board meeting on the 29th.
May 19, 2009
Health Insurance Bill Fails to Pass
You can hold off on the calls and emails asking the Governor to veto the mandatory health insurance pool legislation – the bill did NOT pass! Even though a conference committee had adopted a bill to send to the House and Senate, the conference committee report did not come up for a vote before the 2009 session was adjourned at midnight last night. Apparently, representatives from Education Minnesota realized that the bill was headed for a certain veto and decided not to pursue final action.
Session Adjourns Without Budget Agreement
The 2009 session came to a conclusion without an overall agreement on how to bring the state budget into balance. The legislature passed a bill right before adjournment that implements $1.8 billion in education accounting shifts and raises taxes to bring the budget into balance. However, the bill is headed for a certain veto which will leave a $3 billion budget gap. The Governor has made it clear that he will not call a special session. Rather, he intends to use his line-item veto and unallotment authority to bring the budget into balance.
Unallotment authority is entirely different than the veto. There is no timeline by which the Governor must exercise his unallotment authority. Here is a link to an excellent summary on the topic prepared by House of Representatives Research:
http://www.house.leg.state.mn.us/hrd/pubs/unallot.pdf
We will have much more information about the 2009 Education Finance Bill, potential unallotments, accounting shifts, ARRA funding, etc. at the next AMSD Board of Directors meeting on May 29 from 7-9 a.m. in the TIES Building. Our guest speakers on May 29 will be Deputy MDE Commissioner Chas Anderson, Dr. Tom Melcher and MDE Government Relations Manager Michelle Weber. Please feel free to invite interested board colleagues and district staff to attend this meeting.
Community Education Summary
I am attaching an excellent summary of legislative action related to community education programs prepared by MCEA Lobbyist Valerie Dosland for your review.
May 18, 2009
Statewide Health Insurance Conference Committee Adopts Report
The conference committee on SF 915/HF 866, the legislation creating a mandatory health insurance pool for school employees, adopted a final conference committee report this morning. I am attaching a link to the report below. The full Senate and House will be voting on the conference committee report this afternoon or evening. Please call your local legislators - senators and representatives - and urge them to oppose the conference committee report on SF 915.
The final agreement allows a school district that is individually self-insured by July 1, 2009 to opt out of the pool if the school board and each exclusive representative jointly determine that they want to opt out. This means that each bargaining unit would have to agree that they want to opt out of the new statewide pool. Absent an agreement to opt out, each bargaining unit is mandated to participate in the new pool.
https://www.revisor.leg.state.mn.us/bin/bldbill.php?bill=ccrsf0915.html&session=ls86
TRA Provisions Stripped Out of Pension Bill
The Omnibus Pension Bill included a provision to increase the employer and employee contributions to TRA to address the deficiency in the TRA Fund and to provide a benefit increase for TRA members. The TRA related provisions were removed from the bill in the House Rules Committee last night and it appears that they are dead for this session.
Overall Budget Negotiations
The Governor and legislative leaders have still not reached an overall budget agreement. The legislative session must conclude by midnight tonight. Absent an agreement, the Governor has said that he will bring the budget into balance by using his line-item veto and unallotment authority along with education accounting shifts to close the remaining $3 billion gap. There is a disagreement between the Governor and legislative leaders regarding the Governor’s authority to implement shifts. Both sides agree that the Governor can implement the equivalent of an aid payment shift without legislative approval. The Governor contends that he also has the authority to implement a property tax recognition shift while legislative leaders disagree. Legislative leaders have offered to enact the shift language if the Governor agrees to a tax increase but the Governor continues to oppose any increase in state taxes. It appears likely that one way or another we will end up with about $1.8 billion in accounting shifts.
May 17, 2009
Governor Signs E-12 Education Bill – No line-item vetoes
Governor Pawlenty signed the Omnibus E-12 Education Bill on Saturday night and did not exercise any line-item vetoes in the bill. Here is a link to the Governor’s letter:
http://www.governor.state.mn.us/stellent/groups/public/documents/web_content/prod009525.pdf
While the E-12 bill does not contain any accounting shifts, it is pretty clear that the final overall budget solution will include aid payment shifts and property tax recognition shifts and they will likely be at the level proposed by the House - $1.8 billion. The Governor and legislative leaders met a couple of times over the past few days and have traded a couple of offers on how to solve the projected budget shortfall. The Governor has signed all of the major spending bills and that still leaves about a $3 billion projected budget deficit based on the February forecast. If they agree on the $1.8 billion in shifts, they still have about a $1.2 billion shortfall to address. The Governor remains adamant that he will not sign a tax increase. The Governor has proposed reductions in Health and Human Services, LGA and Higher Education while legislative leaders continue to insist that new permanent revenue be a part of the overall solution. If the Governor and legislative leaders can’t reach an agreement by midnight tomorrow, the Governor has made it clear that he will not call a special session. Instead, he will bring the budget into balance by making line-item vetoes and using his unallotment authority. AMSD Lobbyist Kris Amundson forwarded me this interesting brief on unallotment prepared by House Research:
http://www.house.leg.state.mn.us/hrd/pubs/unallot.pdf
Statewide Health Insurance Bill
The House passed SF 915/HF 866 on Friday night after adopting a few amendments. An amendment related to allowing self insured groups to opt out was adopted. The amendment says that the school board and each exclusive representative of employees must jointly determine whether to opt out of the newly created pool. This amendment really did not change the effect of the bill because each employee bargaining unit would still have to agree to opt out of the new PEIP pool. Absent such an agreement, those employees would be in the new pool regardless of the school board’s position. Rep. Connie Doepke offered an amendment to make participation in the pool voluntary but unfortunately, the amendment was not adopted. A conference committee was appointed consisting of:
Senators: Scott Dibble, Mary Olson, Julie Rosen, Tony Lourey and Gary Kubly
Representatives: Larry Hosch, Tom Anzelc, Sandy Peterson, Lyndon Carlson and Greg Davids
The conferees met at 11 a.m. this morning and agreed on a few provisions:
- the self insured exemption would only apply to individually self-insured school districts – not self insured groups such, i.e. the service cooperatives
- the effective date for exemption for self-insured districts is at the House proposed date of July 1, 2009
The conference committee recessed without taking final action and will return later today. Whatever the final language, it is pretty clear that the House and Senate will pass the conference committee report and we will once again be counting on the Governor to veto the bill.
May 15, 2009
Governor to Sign E-12 and all Other Omnibus Spending Bills
As you have no doubt heard by now, Governor Pawlenty has announced that he intends to sign all of the major spending bills including the Omnibus E-12 Education Finance Bill. The Governor will use his line-item veto and unallotment authority to bring the budget into balance. The Governor also has the authority to delay aid payments so he will be using what amounts to the equivalent of previously used K-12 accounting shifts to help balance the budget. He has not yet announced what level of shifts he will be using nor has he specified which provisions he will line-item veto in the various spending bills. The Governor did sign and line-item veto provisions in the Health and Human Services and Economic Development Bills last night. The most significant line-item veto was a $380 million appropriation for General Assistance Medical Care. (GAMC) At his press conference yesterday, the Governor said it was his intention to protect E-12 education funding with the exception of using accounting shifts.
As you can imagine, the latest move by the Governor created quite a shock wave throughout the Capitol with DFL legislators scrambling to figure out their response. It promises to be a wild final 4 days of the 2009 legislative session. One thing we now know for sure, there will not be a special session and the 2009 session will conclude on Monday.
Health Insurance Bill on House Floor Today
We anticipate that SF 915/.HF 866, the bill creating a mandatory statewide health insurance pool for school employees, will be brought up for a vote on the floor of the House today. The bill has already passed the Senate. Please call your local House Members this morning and urge them to:
May 14, 2009
House/Senate Research Summary of Omnibus E-12 Finance Bill
The summary of the E-12 conference committee report prepared by House and Senate staff has been posted on-line:
http://www.house.leg.state.mn.us/hrd/bs/86/HF0002.html
To read the entire bill click here.
There is a strong consensus among the legislators and education lobbyists I have spoken with that the Omnibus E-12 Bill adopted by the House and Senate holding education funding at current levels is most likely the best case scenario this session given the enormous budget deficit. Please generate as many calls and emails as you can to the Governor urging him to sign the bill.
Governor Tim Pawlenty 651-296-3391 tim.pawlenty@state.mn.us
May 14, 2009
E-12 Funding Bill Passes House and Senate
The Omnibus E-12 Education Finance Bill was approved by the House and Senate yesterday and it is now in the hands of the Governor. As reported yesterday, the bill holds funding at current levels over the next two years and does not include any accounting shifts. The bill also repeals some mandates and provides some much needed flexibility in how current funds are used – i.e. staff development funds and operating capital funds. While it is very disappointing that the New Minnesota Miracle was not included, given the state budget deficit this bill is likely the best case scenario for education funding. If the Governor vetoes the bill, it is very probable that the next education funding bill would include cuts to education. Consequently, it would be very helpful to generate calls and emails to the Governor urging him to sign the bill. Here is his contact information:
Governor Tim Pawlenty 651-296-3391 tim.pawlenty@state.mn.us
Health Insurance Bill Scheduled
HF 866/SF 915, the legislation creating a mandatory health insurance pool for school employees will be heard in the House Tax Committee at 9:00 this morning and in the Ways and Means Committee later today. The bill will likely be on the floor of the House tomorrow. Please continue to contact your local legislators to urge them to oppose this bill.
May 13, 2009
More Details on the E-12 Conference Committee Report
The final conference committee report reflects current law funding for E-12 education – no increases or decreases to base funding. The bill does not include any aid payment or property tax recognition shifts. However, shifts remain on the table and are a part of the ongoing discussions between the Governor and legislative leaders as they continue to negotiate a compromise to solving the state budget shortfall. Given the funding levels in all of the omnibus budget bills, there remains a $3 billion budget gap for the 2010-11 biennium. The Governor and legislative leaders remain at odds over how to address the budget gap with the Governor remaining opposed to any state tax increases and legislators opposed to the Governor’s proposal to sell appropriation bonds based on future revenue from the tobacco settlement.
As I reported last night, we have no idea at this point whether or not the Governor will sign the E-12 conference committee report. The Commissioner expressed disappointment last night over the fact that many of the Governor’s initiatives were not included in the bill. Here are some of the additional provisions included in the bill:
Several working groups are established:
o The commissioner must convene a working group of recognized experts and interested stakeholders to develop a model projecting anticipated performance of each high school on preparation and rigorous coursework measures that compares the school with similar schools.
o The Commissioner must convene a group of interested stakeholders to identify reliable variables of student engagement and determine how to report “safety” in order to comply with federal law.
o A college and career-readiness working group on a comprehensive high school assessment and accountability system that aligns to college and career readiness is established. The groups will be headed jointly by MDE and the U of M and must make recommendations on the design of a high school assessment system and a time-line and implementation recommendations.
o The Commissioner must analyze school district integration plans to identify the elements that have been the most successful and include in the analysis the impact of demographic changes.
o A nine member Innovative School Advisory Council is established to make recommendations to the Commissioner about ways to improve communication, cooperation and the exchange of ideas between and among schools sites, charter schools and school districts.
- The staff development set aside is suspended for FY 2010 and 2011.
- The MDE budget was reduced by $1.5 million to fund the Math and Science Teacher centers and the reading corps at $750,000 for each.
- The recommendations developed by the ad hoc group led by MSBA and NAMI were adopted. This working group identified a number of areas where state and federal special education law could be better aligned and streamlined. The work also included significant changes to the exclusion and expulsion statutes.
- The local school board retains the authority to determine the minimum acreage needed to build a new school. Local school boards also maintain the authority to determine whether to renovate an existing school or to build a new school. The Commissioner’s evaluation of whether to replace a facility must not be solely based upon the ratio of renovation costs to replacement costs.
- Clarifies that intermediate school districts are eligible for telecommunications/internet access equity aid.
- Allows a school district to transfer up to $51 per pupil from its operating capital fund to its general fund for FY 2009 and FY 2010. The school board must adopt a resolution stating the district’s operating capital needs are being met
- A Quality Rating System is established based on the Minnesota quality rating system rating tool and a common set of child outcome and program standards. The state is directed to develop a plan to link future early learning and care state funding to the framework.
Here is a link to the full conference committee report for your reading pleasure:
https://www.revisor.leg.state.mn.us/reports/conference/
Health Insurance Bill
The bill creating a mandatory health insurance pool for school employees is NOT a part of the E-12 conference committee report. The PEIP bill is a separate bill that has already passed the senate and is scheduled to be heard in the House Tax Committee some time today. Here is a link to the current language of the House bill:
https://www.revisor.leg.state.mn.us/bin/bldbill.php?bill=ceH0866.2.html&session=ls86
May 12, 2009
E-12 Conference Committee Finishes – For Now
The E-12 Conference Committee finished up this evening and the conference committee report could be on the House and Senate floor as soon as tomorrow. Whether or not the Governor will sign the bill is very much up in the air. Commissioner Seagren was clearly not very pleased that many of the Governor’s initiatives were not included in the bill and said she did not know whether or not the bill would be signed. The bill reflects a flat funding target and does not include any accounting shifts. However, even if the Governor signs the bill it does NOT mean the shifts are totally off the table. The Governor and legislators have still not reached an overall tax and spending agreement and still have a sizeable gap to fill in the state budget. A shift still could be included in the tax bill or another bill as part of an overall budget agreement.
The language of the conference committee report will not be available until late tonight or early tomorrow morning. The biggest disappointment is that the final agreement did not include a phase in of the New MN Miracle proposal. At one point, it appeared that the House and Senate had agreed to adopt the New MN Miracle along with the consolidated levy and early childhood allowances. In the end, none of those provisions were adopted. Here is a summary of some of the key provisions:
Significant Items Included in the Bill
Current law funding – 0% and 0%
No accounting shifts
Charter school reform and increased accountability – no provision related to extra curricular activities – there is not a moratorium but there is new language making it clear that a charter school cannot be approved to keep open or reestablish a school building that would otherwise be closed
2 year suspension of the staff development set aside
Changes the safe schools maintenance of effort from a dollar amount to a FTE requirement
Allows students not passing the Grad a path to obtain a diploma for 5 years. The student’s test score must be noted on his/her transcript. A working group is established to develop recommendations for the next generation of high school assessments. The group is headed up by representatives from the MDE and the University of Minnesota and must report to the legislative committees by December 31, 2009.
Extends for two years the authority for districts to transfer up to $51 per pupil in operating capitol account to general fund
OPEB changes in House bill – after October 1, 2009 school districts cannot bond for OPEB liabilities without a referendum. However, pay as you go levy authority is established to a statewide capped level.
Repeal of Superintendent’s report
Repeal of the ability for voters to file a petition to revoke a referendum
Growth Model
A transition to computer adaptive tests including language stating that the Commissioner MUST allow for paper-and-pencil tests that are the equivalent of computer adaptive assessments to accommodate the technology capacity of individual school districts
Significant Items Not Included in the Bill
Minnesota Miracle
Aid payment or property tax recognition shifts
Shared services
Alternative Teacher Licensure
May 12, 2009
E-12 Conference Committee Update
The E-12 Conference Committee has not met publicly since last Thursday. However, conferees have continued to negotiate privately since last Thursday and the latest word is that they have almost completed their work and will likely meet later today to announce the agreement. We do not yet know many details. The budget target was for flat funding with no accounting shifts. HOWEVER, please keep in mind that this target was agreed to by the House and Senate and it is assuming additional new revenue of at least $1 billion. The Governor has not agreed to this target and continues to oppose any increase in state taxes. In other words, if an agreement on new revenue cannot be reached, the budget target for E-12 education will be reduced and shifts will come back on the table – probably in a big way. In fact, it is hard to envision a scenario where shifts don’t come back into play.
We also know that there are a few remaining policy issues to be decided by the conference committee - shared services and the issues related to replacing the GRAD and implementing computer adaptive assessments. The senate is continuing to insist that SF 10, their shared services proposal, be included in the final agreement while the House prefers their less obtrusive version that would establish a best practices clearing house web site. AMSD has been advocating for the House position on this and we need your calls and email to House Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher urging her to uphold the House position on shared services. Here is her contact information:
Rep.margaret.kelliher@house.mn 651-296-0171
On the testing issue, it appears the conference committee is moving toward an agreement that will put the state on a path of implementing end of course exams and computer adaptive assessments. The timelines initially proposed were extremely aggressive and our assessment professionals have raised significant concerns about moving too rapidly and not properly addressing issues related to test development and security, technology capacity, etc. Please contact the conferees, especially Rep. Mariani and Sen. Wiger to urge them to adopt a schedule that will allow adequate time to make the transition and ensure that decisions are based on sound research and best practice. In addition, it will be critical that the state identify a reliable funding stream for technology or this will result in another huge unfunded mandate.
Here is a link to contact information for all of the conferees, the Governor and legislative leadership:
http://www.amsd.org/docs/Leg_Updates_2009/Update%20Attachments/April/Conferees%202009.doc
Statewide Health Insurance Bill
The legislation mandating school districts to pool their employees in the PEIP pool has passed the senate floor. In the House, the bill was passed out of both the State Government Finance Division and the full Finance Committee yesterday and was referred to the Tax Committee. The House State Government Finance Committee amended the bill to allow school districts that are self-insured, either individually or through a self-insured group, to opt out of PEIP – at the discretion of the bargaining units. The amendment also changed the effective date to January 1, 2010.
inally, I am attaching a copy of the Power Point presentation used by Bill Morris at the last AMSD Board meeting for your use.
May 7, 2009
MDE GRAD Proposal
The Department of Education has released a proposal to transform the current MCA II/GRAD testing structure. I am attaching a copy of the proposal for your information. Rep. Mariani, Senator Wiger, Commissioner Seagren and several assessment and curriculum professionals from our member school districts are meeting at noon today to discuss the proposal. Our assessment and curriculum people have outlined several concerns including the proposed timeline, the percent the end of course exam would have to count toward the final grade, availability of computer labs, security issues, etc. This is clearly one of the major policy issues to be decided by the conference committee and we will continue to monitor it and communicate with conference committee members. Please let me know of additional concerns you have about this proposal.
E-12 Conference Committee
There is not much new to report on the Education Finance Conference Committee. Legislative leadership and the Governor have not yet reached agreement on spending targets for the E-12, Tax and Health and Human Services conference committees. These three conference committees are inextricably linked and until agreement is reached on the Tax Bill, the E-12 conference committee will be stalled. The House and Senate had established today, May 7, as a deadline for the omnibus bill conference committees to complete their work. The House Rules Committee met this morning to repeal that deadline and the Senate will likely do the same this afternoon. Unfortunately, talk of a special session is growing. The E-12 Conference Committee will likely convene again sometime this afternoon to continue working on the policy related provisions.
Consistent with our 2009 AMSD Funding Priorities, please continue to contact your local legislators, legislative leaders, conference committee members with 3 key messages:
- Protect Education Funding
- All options must be on the table, including increases in state taxes, to balance the budget and protect education funding
- Adopt the New Minnesota Miracle funding framework
You can access the funding priorities document and contact information for conference committee members, the governor and legislative leaders at our website:
AMSD Board Meeting Tomorrow
The next AMSD Board of Directors meeting is tomorrow morning in the TIES Building. Dr. Bill Morris from Decision Resources is our guest speaker and he will share some of his recent polling data.
May 5, 2009
E-12 Conference Committee
The E-12 Conference Committee has not yet been given a spending target so they have been focused on the policy provisions in the respective bills. The conferees have discussed and taken testimony on special education mandate reform, home school mandates, charter school provisions, the senate’s consolidated levy, the New MN Miracle proposal, etc. The conference committee met for a few hours this morning before recessing for floor sessions. They plan to reconvene later this afternoon and discuss the shared services legislation and the early childhood articles. Several of the omnibus bill conference committees have completed their work and the House and Senate are taking actions on those bills including: Transportation, Environment Finance and Economic Development Finance. It is not clear whether or not the Governor will sign those bills.
I am attaching copies of the letters the Governor sent to the E-12 Education Conference Committee Members and the Tax Conference Committee Members. As you will note, significant difference remain on overall tax and spending issues. At this point, it is difficult to see how the remaining conference committees are going to meet the Thursday deadline for conference committees to complete their work.
PEIP Legislation
HF 866/SF 915, the legislation requiring school districts to obtain health insurance through the Public Employee Insurance Program, continues to advance through the committee process although it has been amended significantly. The bill was passed out of the Senate Finance Committee this morning after an amendment was adopted that allows self-insured school districts to opt out of the program. The House bill was previously amended to exempt self-insured school districts. Unfortunately, school districts that are not self insured would continue to be mandated into PEIP. The latest word is that the bill will be heard in the House State Government Finance Division tomorrow – a time and location have not yet been announced. We are working with other education organizations to prepare an amendment that would make participation in the PEIP voluntary for ALL school districts. Please contact members of the committee and urge them to support this amendment. Here is a link where you can access contact information for the members of the committee: http://www.house.leg.state.mn.us/comm/committeemembers.asp?comm=86123
May 2, 2009
Conference Committee Update
The E-12 Conference Committee is not meeting this weekend. The committee met Friday morning and early afternoon adopting some of the non-controversial policy provisions before adjourning until Monday at a time to be announced. Commissioner Seagren spoke to the committee on Thursday evening outlining some of her concerns. I am attaching a copy of the letter she presented to the conferees. The conference committee has a May 7 deadline to finish its work so they will likely meet every day and evening next week. As usual, the E-12 and Tax Conference Committees are intertwined with the E-12 target dependent on the negotiations in the Tax Conference Committee.
PEIP Health Insurance Bill Scheduled
HF 866, the bill that would require all school district employees to be pooled in a single health insurance pool, is scheduled to be heard in the House Finance Committee on Wednesday morning at 8:00. The House bill exempts self-insured districts from having to join the pool while the Senate companion still applies to all school districts. The committee agenda is below:
WEDNESDAY, May 6, 2009
8:00 AM
Room: TBD
Chair: Rep. Lyndon Carlson
Bill(s) Added
Agenda: HF1231 (Murphy, M.) Dedicated funding provided for Natural resource and cultural heritage, and money appropriated. (pending division action)
HF984 (Norton) Medical assistance coverage of primary care health care providers performing primary caries prevention services as part of the child and teen checkup program authorized.
HF266 (Fritz) Parental fees modified for services for persons with developmental disabilities.
SF1566/HF1703 (Huntley) Health care eligibility provisions amended for medical assistance, MinnesotaCare, and general assistance medical care, and Drug Utilization Review Board established.
HF384 (Thissen) Technology standards and tools developed to exchange information electronically between groups.
HF1328 (Thissen) Youth violence addressed as a public health problem, prevention and intervention programs addressing risk factors of youth violence coordinated and aligned.
HF580 (Hosch) MFIP family stabilization and work programs modified, and asset limitations and documentation modified for medical assistance and MinnesotaCare.
HF1728 (Hosch) Child care programs, program integrity, adult supports, and Minnesota family investment program amended, and home visitors as MFIP employment and training service providers utilized.
HF120 (Hosch) Health care cooperative arrangement oversight established, rural area health care service access increased, and money appropriated.
HF866 (Hosch) Public employees insurance program school districts employee health insurance coverage purchase requirement.
For a list of the Finance Committee members and their contact information click here.
Capitol Rally
The Alliance for Student Achievement is encouraging interested education advocates to take part in the Invest in Minnesota Rally on May 11. This rally is not specific to education but it you plan to attend please take the opportunity to urge legislators and the governor to:
- Protect Education Funding
- Minimize the use of accounting shifts
- Reduce and eliminate mandates
- Adopt the New Minnesota Miracle Funding Reform
Here is a flier with some information about the rally: http://www.investinmn.org/docs/investinmn511capitolevent.pdf