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By T.W. Budig
ECM Capitol reporter
 Lawmakers unrolled the “New Minnesota Miracle,” a school funding proposal designed not only to increase school funding by $1.7 billion annually but to make it more equitable.
House Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher, DFL-Minneapolis, speaks at a Capitol press conference on Monday (April 7) at the release of a K-12 funding reform initiative.
“Anoka-Hennepin (School District) will do much better with this new funding formula than the current one,” said House K-12 Finance Committee Chairwoman Mindy Greiling, DFL-Roseville.
Suburban school districts in general should do better, she opined.
Yet while talking about phased-in funding — blueprints being established — the question of exactly where the new education dollars would come from was left open by lawmakers.
The omission did not escape the notice of Rep. Pat Garofalo, R-Farmington, a member of the House K-12 Finance Committee.
“It’s all dessert, no vegetables,” Garofalo said after a Capitol press conference at the Capitol on Monday (April 7) of the proposal.
Expresses concern
Garofalo expressed concern over a big tax increase in recessionary times.
But he also said the current school funding formula is broken.
Under the proposed legislation — which will soon receive legislative hearings — the state would ultimately pay for about 85 percent of K-12 funding, Greiling explained.
Greiling in part heralded the proposal as property tax relief — $600 million.
But House Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher, DFL-Minneapolis, opined that some school funding, perhaps for the cost of new school buildings, would remain on the property tax.
Basic formula funding would increase more than $2,000 per pupil and be indexed for inflation under the proposal.
More than a dozen tweaks to the school funding formula are envisioned.
Concentration factor
One current funding formula variable, the concentration factor which Garofalo and other formula critics argue unfairly lavishes dollars on cities like Minneapolis, is repealed in terms of students with limited English proficiency.
Other proposed changes to the funding formula encompasses declining enrollment, transportation, referendum replacement and other areas.
Education Minnesota, the state’s teacher union, supports the initiative along with a host of other education groups.
The proposal stems from the work of the bipartisan Education Finance Reform Task Force.
Gov. Tim Pawlenty criticized the proposal for lacking specifics.
“They’re calling it ‘The New Minnesota Miracle.’ I think the miracle is that they don’t have a way to pay for it,” said Pawlenty.
The proponents “tweak” the education funding formula but the proposals lacks reform and accountability, he explained.
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