Advocacy Opportunity - Take Action
In the last two days, lawmakers in both the House and Senate education committees have heard bills appropriating dollars for summer education programs. HF 1064 (Davnie) was heard in Education Finance yesterday, and SF 973 (Chamberlain) was heard today. The bills appropriate approximately $83 million for 2021 summer education programs, Adult Basic Education (ABE) and mental health grants through the end of fiscal year 2022. It also includes $25 million to address declining enrollment due to COVID-19.
Dr. Greta Evans-Becker, Robbinsdale Area Schools board member, testified on behalf of MSBA on both bills. In part, her testimony stated, " Please don’t wait till the end of the session to pass this bill. Schools need time to hire teachers, write the curriculum, and arrange for ways to support students’ mental health. Districts need time to promote these enhanced summer opportunities and families need time to learn about the programming. We feel a sense of urgency in getting this bill passed."
Please reach out to your legislator and the bill authors TODAY and urge them to pass this legislation and get it to Governor Walz's desk for signature. If districts and families want to plan on summer education programming, these bills are essential and need to be passed NOW.
"As a school district member in ________________________________, I am sharing our support of HF 1064/SF 973, Rep. Davnie’s / Sen. Chamberlain's bill to increase education programming aid this summer. We urge members to vote in favor of this bill and do all they can to move it forward NOW to allow districts to begin making plans for this summer's programming and staffing NOW. "
