MANKATO — Two very different discussions took place during Monday’s annual meeting between area legislators and Mankato Area Public Schools administrators: 

One on wants and another on realities.

During the opening 30 minutes of the hour-long meeting, administrators summarized the district’s legislative wish list:

School finance reform, full funding for all-day kindergarten, additional early childhood funding, support for testing requirements, removing the post-Labor Day mandate for school start dates and increasing funding for special education students and English-language learners.

But the remaining 30 minutes were a bit more pragmatic as the three DFL legislators in attendance — St. Peter Rep. Terry Morrow, Mankato Rep. Kathy Brynaert and Mankato Sen. Kathy Sheran— cautioned that movement on any of the aforementioned issues will be difficult with the opposing party championing no-new-taxes stances. Rep. Tony Cornish, R-Vernon Center, was not in attendance.

“I believe we are not adequately funding what we ask you to do,” Sheran said. “But the majority is not willing to raise taxes.”

Take the issue of early childhood funding as an example.

Many educators and non-educators alike tout early childhood programs as perhaps the single most effective means of closing the achievement gap and preparing children for success in school. 

Yet, Mankato’s share of the state’s early childhood funding provides space for only 40 at-risk children — perhaps one-fifth of the number of children who need services, according to district estimates.

As a result, the district’s legislative platform calls on lawmakers to allow local authority for non-voter approved levies to provide additional early childhood funding.

Though DFL legislators expressed agreement with the need for additional funds and with the possibility of allowing non-voter approved levies, they were also candid that such measures are not likely to pass muster with the Republican majority.

Sheran noted that similar shifts are occurring with increasing regularity at the Capitol, in which state funding responsibilities are shifted onto local property taxes. She said another such shift is unlikely to garner support with taxpayers.

“I understand the pressure and the need,” she said. “But there are other pressures at work here.”

A number of other education issues were also discussed during the meeting.

Jerry Kolander, business manager for Mankato schools, said education funding formulas need to be simplified. 

Cindy Amoroso, curriculum director for Mankato schools, said the district could save $1.3 million if the state fully funded all-day kindergarten (presently, kindergarten students receive roughly half of the full per-pupil allotment based on the half-day model).

Morrow spoke about the possibility of the state using gambling revenue to pay back the 40 percent aid delay to schools. 

Brynaert said she “can almost guarantee” that Republicans will forward a proposal limiting school levy votes to even-numbered years (typically, elections in odd-numbered years draw far fewer voters). She also warned that teacher pay and tenure issues are likely to be revisited in the upcoming session.

The meeting closed with legislators urging district staff to stay in contact through the upcoming months. 

“It will help us to hear from people on the ground,” Morrow said.

The next legislative session begins on Jan. 24.