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Focus on school funding
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Senate Majority Leader Larry Pogemiller and Sen. Tarryl Clark (center) joined Sen. Kathy Sheran at a Mankato press conference Monday to discuss the benefits of the budget passed by the DFL-controlled Senate. John Cross
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Legislators talk education in Mankato
MANKATO — Both the state House and the Senate have proposed bills that would offer a generous funding boost to Minnesota schools, but the DFL-controlled Legislature relies on income-tax increases to finance the additional spending.
The tax increase, which would fall on the highest earners in the state, puts the Legislature and Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty in direct conflict as the legislative session moves into its final seven weeks.
The House bill calls for a $919 million increase in K-12 over two years. That includes a 3 percent bump in base funding in 2008 and 2009. But it also includes $152 million for technology upgrades, $95 million to fund statewide all-day kindergarten and an extra $106 million to cover increasingly expensive special education mandates.
That would give Mankato schools an 8.1 percent overall increase in funding through 2009.
The Senate bill calls for a more than $900 million increase over two years. An earlier version provided about $500 million, but a Senate tax action committee added another $400 million that includes an annual increase of about 2 percent to the basic education fund, as well as a large jump in special education funding.
Senate Majority Leader Larry Pogemiller stopped in Mankato Monday to make the case for the Senate’s approach to budgeting. While the education bill might appear to be a major boost for public schools, Pogemiller said the increases mostly just gets education funding to where it should be.
During the first three years under Pawlenty, who opposes increases in state taxes, budget cuts and below-inflation increases were common as Minnesota struggled with large budget deficits. Pogemiller said it’s time to invest more state money in schools and reduce the burden on local property taxes to fund education.
“We just have to do that to get them back to where they were before we devastated their budgets,” said Pogemiller, DFL-Minneapolis.
Property taxes under the Senate bill would fall about 6.2 percent for the average Minnesotan owning a $150,000 home.
The largest hurdle for both the House and Senate K-12 Education bills will be getting approval for increased income taxes on an estimated 93,000 Minnesotans — individuals with taxable income of more than $141,000 and couples with taxable income of more than $250,000.
Gov. Tim Pawlenty said he would veto any bill that has a tax increase.
Mankato Area Public Schools Supt. Ed Waltman supports most aspects of both the House and Senate bills and believes a tax hike may be necessary to keep Mankato schools from making $2 milliion to $3 million in budget cuts, or asking the public to support another operating levy.
“We need to have the discussion in our community,” Waltman said. “I think the voters said they want schools funded in the last election.”
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The results are in.
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Here are the 2009 Readers’ Choice Award winners in Activities and Entertainment. -
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