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Proposed spending was the topic of Monday evening’s board meeting, as Brad Lundell, executive director of Schools for Equity in Education, updated the school board on what was happening at the Capitol during a school board study session. 

“We generally deal with funding equity and tax equity,” he said.

Albert Lea Area Schools rank above the state average for general education revenue in compensatory and English learner funding, though the district is below state average in terms of local option revenue and referendum.

“You’re a district that, over the years, over the last 25 years or so, has seen a growing diversity and a growing need for English language instruction,” he said.

In Albert Lea, the property tax burden is $1,305 per child, compared to the state average of over  $1,500. But according to Lundell, the burden on a $300,000 business or home was $520 on statewide average. In Albert Lea, that burden was over $820.

A comparison of referendum market value showed the state average was over $655,000, while in Albert Lea it was over $363,000. In terms of an adjusted net tax capacity, the state average was over $11,000 and almost $6,500 in Albert Lea.

Lundell used a track comparison, and said for every time an “average” person ran around the track they received $2 or $3 dollars, whereas someone from Albert Lea only got $1.

He also updated the board on different school funding provisions and how Gov. Tim Walz, the House and the Senate want to address them.   

“It used to be that the governor would put his budget in and that was his target,” he said. “The House would have its target, the Senate would have its target.”

But he noted this year was different because all three chambers were working with $2.2 billion for funding education, not including the $400 million for free meals that already passed.

Walz and the House want a 4% increase in the general education formula for fiscal year 2024 and a 2% increase in 2025 tied to inflation, while the Senate is proposing a 4% increase in 2024 and a 5% increase in 2025 not tied to inflation.

He said both chambers wanted to build up English learner funding.

Both Walz and the House propose allowing a one-time use of board authority to renew an expiring levy, while the Senate wants the board to approve it on an on-going basis.

Walz is proposing $20 million per year as a base for Multi-Tiered Systems of Support, while the House is proposing $18 million per year this biennium. The Senate is proposing $5 million this biennium with a $15 million per year base.

Lundell noted both the governor and House were adamant they weren’t going to mandate one single evidence-based program for literacy training.

The House is proposing the biggest increase in funding for Student Support Personnel Aid.

Both Walz and the House are proposing an almost 48% cross-subsidy aid for special education, while the Senate’s proposal is slightly over, though they would like to phase it to a higher percentage over four years.

Gov. Walz is proposing $16 million per year this biennium that would go to the “Grow Your Own” program, which develops paraprofessional staff into full-time teachers, something Lundell said was a popular program. The House is proposing $17 million this biennium, while the Senate is proposing over $24 million this biennium.

Both the House and Senate are proposing $40 million in fiscal year 2024 for after-school community grants.

Walz, the House and the Senate propose over $4 million in funding for Special Education Separate Sites. That number would increase to over $5 million in 2024-25, 2025-26 and 2026-27. 

And in transportation sparsity, the House is proposing almost $5 million for 2023-24, almost $5 million in 2024-25 and over $6 million in 2025-26 and 2026-27.

When asked when a final budget could be agreed upon by all sides, Lundell said the goal was to get something finalized by early May.

“There won’t be a special session, I can guarantee you that,” he said, and was optimistic something could be agreed upon by early to mid May, though finalizing something could depend on the bonding bill.

In his presentation, Lundell also touched on Schools for Equity in Education’s goals for 2023. They included increasing the equalization factor for the referendum levy, lowering the eligibility threshold and increasing the equalization factor on debt service and increasing the equalization factor for local option revenue.

SEE also wants to stabilize funding by increasing the general education formula, addressing the special education cross-subsidy and increasing the local option revenue. SEE also doesn’t want to see any excessive mandates.     

SEE is made up of 54 statewide districts along with three cooperatives and serves approximately 250,000 students.