More than 70 Districts Pass Special Education Resolutions
In response to school board members growing concern about the special education cross-subsidy, MSBA has started a initiative to urge districts across the state to pass special education resolutions to add
By the urging of delegates attending the December Delegate Assembly meeting, MSBA is asking all school boards to take action by passing federal and state special education resolutions. To date we have received 75 passed resolutions.

We Need You!
Members of MSBA's board of directors will be attending National School Boards Association's (NSBA) Advocacy Institute in Washington, D.C. February 4-6. During meetings, members will present copies of the federal resolutions to Congress.

If you have passed a special education resolution and do not see your district listed, please forward a copy of your signed resolution to ddittrich@mnmsba.org.

It is not too late to pass a special education resolution in your district. State and federal resolutions are found on MSBA's homepage. Once you have passed the resolutions, please send copies to ddittrich@mnmsba.org. Please try to send them by January 31, 2018.

Looking forward, MSBA's Day at the Capitol is Monday, March 19. Members will be able to meet with legislators and hand-deliver copies of the state special education resolutions.

The momentum is strong and there is a need to continue to push. Ideally, legislation would pass and a task force would be formed yet this year with the goal of a recommendation to allow for legislation during the 2019 funding legislative session.

Recently, districts who have passed resolutions have received local press:



Resources
Tom Melcher, school finance director for The Minnesota Department of Education (MDE), spoke at MSBA's Leadership Conference. Much of his presentation dealt with special education. He summarized his comments saying, "Maybe this is a good time to make some progress."