Capitol Watch: Budget hiccup on education funding bill

All progress on the state budget came to a grinding halt this week when House Democrats broke an agreement with Republicans to move budget bills to the floor once they cleared committee. Republican and Democratic leadership in the House communicated to Education Finance Committee members they could spend an additional $40 million on schools (on top of the $26 billion already committed), but that new money should go to supplement the new READ act to improve literacy. That left no new funding to continue allowing seasonal school employees to file unemployment claims during the summer.

Democrats weren’t happy about that, but the bill passed the Finance Committee and the Ways and Means Committee and was ready for a floor debate. House DFL Chair Cheryl Youakim introduced the bill saying, it “reflects a compromise that a dynamic of a tied House required for us to fund our schools.”

But when it got to the House Rules Committee, Democrats changed their mind and only tentatively placed the bill on the calendar of the day for Monday. Instead of sticking to the original agreement, House Democrats demanded a return to the bargaining table on the bill over the weekend. It’s not a good sign for getting the budget done on time if House Democrats start having buyer’s remorse on deals agreed to by their leadership. Other budget bills have been moving through the process as expected and this is the first hiccup in the process.

The issue reveals a real challenge for House Republicans in their effort to pass a budget without raising taxes. Negotiating with House Democrats has been difficult enough. Are they now expected to start over with Gov. Walz and Senate Democrats? That will only drive spending up and create more pressure for a tax increase.

Speaker Demuth should tell Senate Democrats and Gov. Walz that the deal she cut with House Democrats is the deal that needs to be passed and signed into law. It’s not fair to expect them to negotiate twice.  

Non-public school aid still alive

The House education bill thankfully ignored Gov. Tim Walz’s proposal to eliminate all aid to non-public schools in Minnesota, characterized here as a cynical and unprecedented cut to private schools. That’s a good sign for keeping this funding intact, but non-public schools are not taking anything for granted. A capitol rally will be held this Wednesday, May 7 at 1:30 pm. Click here for more information.