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Several factors contributed to the 1.8% annual average rate of growth during the 1990s:

• Most of the 5% annual rate of growth in school revenues can be explained in terms of enrollment growth and inflation.  In real dollars per pupil, the annual average rate of growth in school district revenues from FY 1991 to FY 2000 was only 1.8% (Source: Minnesota Department of Finance, “Price of Government” report adjusted for inflation using the implicit price deflator for state and local government purchases).
  
  
• In the late 1990s, during a time of budget surpluses, there was a one-time allocation supported by both Democrats and Republicans to reduce class sizes.  These dollars are no longer available, which is why we are seeing substantial increases in class sizes.
  
  
• Furthermore, there has been a dramatic increase in the number of special education students and in the cost of special education mandates.  Improvements in medical technology have enabled more medically fragile students to survive and be mainstreamed into public schools.  Often these students need expensive medical care while they are in a public school setting.  These large increases in public school expenditures for student medical care have actually helped to reduce state human services costs by shifting delivery of medical services to a less costly public school setting.
  
  
• The number of limited English proficiency students enrolled in Minnesota public schools also increased during the 1990s.  Increases in the number of students learning English as a Second Language increases school costs.

Finally, even with the growth in school costs, total school district revenue as a percent of Minnesota personal income declined during the 1990s.

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