Gov. Walz gets convinced to leave private school aid alone

Gov. Tim Walz and Democratic and Republican legislative leaders have reached an agreement on state budget targets that does not eliminate nonpublic pupil aid. (Gov. Walz’s original budget proposals sought to cut the aid completely to help address “budget challenges,” even though the aid totals less than half a percent — 0.4 percent — of E-12 education’s biennial budget, Minnesota’s biggest general fund expenditure.)

The funds, which were established under state statutes 50 years ago, reimburse public school districts for providing essential education resources such as instructional materials and support services to students attending a nonpublic school (including a home school) that operates within the district’s boundaries “so that every school pupil in the state will share equitably in education benefits and therefore further assure all Minnesota pupils and their parents freedom of choice in education.”

Textbooks, instructional materials, and standardized tests, all of which must be secular in nature, along with bus transportation and student support services such as health services and guidance and counseling services, are provided to nonpublic schools and homeschools upon request from their local school district. The state uses weighted rates adjusted for inflation to reimburse districts for their costs providing these educational aids.

Call-to-action pages from various organizations urged the governor to reverse course on the funding cuts.

American Experiment is pleased that the state is continuing its commitment to providing essential education services to all students, regardless of where they go to school, but it is disheartening that after all these years it had to be defended in the first place.