Upcoming Events
TONIGHT - Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) Update Meeting
MSBA will attend the ESSA public update at 6 p.m. this evening.
The Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) will provide information on the first full year of ESSA implementation, including:
- A brief overview of the 2018 accountability results.
- An opportunity to provide feedback on school identification and recognition.
- A kickoff of Phase 3 of stakeholder engagement, focused on fiscal transparency reporting.
The public is invited to join. Meetings will be held in Rooms 15-16, Conference Center B, at the MDE office (1500 Highway 36, Roseville). The event is free, but you are asked to
register
.
TOMORROW - Senate Education Policy -- Special Education C
ommittee Meeting
9 a.m.
Tuesday, September 25, at the Minnesota Senate Building (Room 1150) in St. Paul
Agenda:
- Identification process for special education services.
- Individualized Education Plan (IEP) process.
* If you would like to testify regarding the IEP or identification process, please email Jonathan Boesche at
jonathan.boesche@senate.mn no later than 3 p.m. on September 24. Public testimony will be limited to 4 minutes per person.
Updates
Advocacy Tour Meetings
The MSBA Government Relations and Management Services teams wrapped up its fall Advocacy Tour meetings last week. We appreciate all of you who came out to the various meetings around the state. We always enjoy seeing you and learn a great deal.
In preparation for the 2019 legislative session, we introduced an excersize to better understand your financial priorities. Using a "Legislative Ledger" we asked participants to "balance" a budget starting with the estimated $375 million.
School board members' responses varied from spending the entire amount on the general education formula to dividing funds up to cover multiple needs:
- Money on the formula
- Special Education Cross-Subsidy Reduction
- Mental Health Funding
The overwhelming outcome of this activity was districts need and want more money on the formula. This will allow more flexibility in spending to meet needs that are important to districts -- metro and rural. The second takeaway was the need to reduce the cross-subsidy. The third lesson learned was there is a statewide need for mental health in our schools.
The clear conclusion is there is great need in education and clearly not enough resources.
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