Home > News & Events > For Immediate Release	Print View

Under a proposal announced by Governor Tim Pawlenty today, more than $112 million would be redeployed from school district administration and other non-classroom expenditures to classrooms. The proposal would require every Minnesota school district to spend at least 70 percent of expenditures directly on classroom instruction.

"After dramatically increasing K-12 funding last legislative session, we want to ensure that those dollars are well spent,” Governor Tim Pawlenty said. “Requiring at least 70 percent of funding be dedicated to the classroom is common sense – taxpayers expect state funding to be targeted on children, not bureaucracies.”

The 70 percent plan would still allow local school boards to set the specific budgets for each school and the district. It would, however, require superintendents to certify each year the percent of the district's total operating expenditures that are intended to be spent on direct classroom expenditures.

Under the proposal, classroom expenditures would include classroom teachers and personnel (salary and benefits), special education, vocational education, classroom instructional supplies, instructional aides and activities. Non-classroom expenditures would include district and school administration and support services, operations and maintenance, staff development, pupil and instructional support services, athletics and co-curricular activities. 

Some education expenditures that would be excluded from the calculation altogether include transportation, capital expenditures and building construction, food service, tuition expenditures and community education expenditures.  These expenditures are excluded from the calculation because they are generally considered self-supporting operations, are operated outside of general education operations and in the case of transportation expenditures, vary greatly from district to district due to geographic locations of schools within a district.

School districts spending less than 70 percent on classroom instruction would submit a three-year plan to reach the 70 percent threshold. The proposal also provides for a waiver process to the Minnesota Department of Education for extraordinary circumstances.

Using the new 70 percent definition, Minnesota school districts spend an average of 69.2 percent of total expenditures in the classroom. Sixty-seven districts currently exceed the 70 percent level – 13 metro districts (including Minneapolis and St. Paul) and 54 Greater Minnesota districts of all sizes.  Two-hundred seventy-six districts do not exeed the 70 percent threshold. 

"There are many school districts that are near or at the 70 percent solution and we commend them for making such a strong commitment to classroom instruction," Governor Pawlenty said. "However, other districts are at a lower percentage. We believe the students, parents and teachers in those districts deserve to have similar resources dedicated to the classroom."

A version of this proposal was brought forth in the last legislative session, but was ultimately not included in the final education budget bill.  That legislation directed 65 percent of spending to go towards the classroom, but with a different formula. The revised 70 percent proposal excludes, for example, transportation and food service from the calculation because transportation needs vary from district to district, depending on geography, and food service is partially a self-supporting and federal categorical aid program. 

“We listened to the concerns voiced against the original legislation last year,” said Education Commissioner Alice Seagren. “The modifications we have made address those issues. We hope this new proposal can move forward with support from both sides of the political aisle.”

http://www.governor.state.mn.us/Tpaw_View_Article.asp?artid=1695