Sebeka School Superintendent speaks on behalf of state bill

Elias Thomas

Report for Minnesota

Republicans in the Minnesota House have introduced a bill that would give school districts broad flexibility in how they spend money and allow them to opt out of recent mandates from the state. 

The bill is aimed at providing relief for school districts facing financial hardship. It would apply to mandates adopted in the 2023-2024 session and extend through the 2028-2029 school year. 

The legislation would allow districts to spend money where they need to, instead of where state rules require it to be spent. The bill would not apply to any federal funds. 

The fate of the proposed bill is unclear. The House Education Finance Committee heard testimony on it last week but did not take a vote. 

Adosh Unni, Director of Government Relations at the Minnesota Department of Education, said the legislation would create confusion.

“Allowing all of our local education agencies to individually choose which law to follow and not follow could create a confusing patchwork of different expectations from district to district,” Unni said. “We risk losing a lot of oversight and accountability for the use of state funds and consistent expectations around education.”

Others expressed concern that the bill would lead districts to opt out of important programs. William Schwandt, a special education paraprofessional from Bloomington, said he opposed the bill because of its potential impact on training for people involved in education programs.

“Allowing school districts to opt out of providing meaningful and much needed professional development for paraprofessionals is bad,” Schwandt said. 

Supporters of the bill, including Sebeka Public Schools Superintendent Dave Kerkvliet, said mandates make it difficult to fund needs specific to their schools. 

“I can’t use food service dollars to fix the roof that’s over my food service area,” Kerkvliet said. “This bill would help that.”

Rep. Ben Bakeburg, R-Jordan, a middle school principal and one of the authors of the bill, said some districts can’t afford to hire new mental health paraprofessionals with the $40,000 provided by the state. Kerkvliet agreed.

“We’re in a situation where we can’t afford new hires,” Kerkvliet said. “That funding is being restricted from us being able to use it to maybe retain paraprofessionals.”

Rep. Cheryl Youakim, D-Hopkins, pointed out that 65 percent of state education funding is based on average daily membership, meaning how many students a school has. That funding is already flexible so that schools can meet the needs of the specific student population whether it be special education or English learning, Youakim said.

Some schools are facing declining enrollment, which impacts the per pupil funding they receive. Youakim said $40,000 in base funding was added in the last two years to help make it easier for smaller schools to hire paraprofessionals. 

“We did a $40,000 base because we didn’t want to just do average daily membership,” Youakim said. “Because for smaller schools, that doesn’t get them very far.”

Youakim said she expects to propose another bill that would provide districts flexibility on nutrition and paraprofessional funding. She said she has been working on it with stakeholders.  

Report for Minnesota is a project of the University of Minnesota’s Hubbard School of Journalism and Mass Communication to support local news in all areas of the state.