The 93rd Minnesota State Legislature convened January 3 for the beginning of the 2023 - 2024 legislative session.

Over the next several months Minneapolis Schools Voices is going to spend time as often as we can discussing education and the legislature. We want to provide context for the decisions being made at the Capitol, particularly as they influence and impact Minneapolis Public Schools and all of you. There’s a few things you should know about this year’s legislative session:

• This year’s legislative session is particularly interesting as both houses of the legislature are controlled by the Democratic party. The Minnesota Speaker of the House is Melissa Hortman (District 34B) and the Senate Majority President is Bobby Joe Champion (District 59). This year’s legislature focus is on the State budget.
• The State of Minnesota is currently projected to have a historic surplus of $17.6 billion. According to Clark Biegler Goldenrod, the deputy director of the Minnesota Budget Project, most of this year’s surplus is made up of one-time funding. Adjusted for inflation, Minnesota’s surplus is closer to $16 billion and the surplus is really more of two legislative session’s budgets combined into one as the legislature failed to move on last year’s surplus. “I think policy makers will be looking at some pieces that are short-term, one-time spending, but I think we also need to be thinking about the type of investments that are going to be supporting Minnesotans over the long-term,” Biegler Goldenrod said. “And perhaps part of that thinking is building a tax system that also sustainably funds those public services that Minnesotans can then count on."
• Legislators have begun to introduce legislation for this year’s session. Legislation to fully fund special education has already been introduced. Also introduced was legislation requiring that school districts fully fund menstrual products for students, as well as school breakfast and lunch for all students. A bill has also been introduced that would ban suspending students in kindergarten through third grade, except under special circumstances. Other legislation will continue to be introduced over the remainder of the session.

Minneapolis Schools Voices is seeking parent and teacher feedback on what they would like to see the legislature do around education policy and funding during the upcoming legislative session. Leave a comment in our feedback area below or email us at info@mplsschoolsvoices.news to share your thoughts.

In next week’s article we’ll discuss the legislative priorities more deeply. And in  two weeks we’ll discuss the community advocacy, from parents, students, and teachers, occurring around the legislative session.