Virtual File - Item

Text: May 30, 2017

The Honorable Kurt Daudt
Speaker of the House
Room 463, State Office Building
St. Paul, Minnesota 55155

Dear Speaker Daudt:

On the advice of my General Counsel, to ensure there are no legal challenges,
I am signing Chapter 5, House File 2 rather than allowing it to become law without
my signature.

I am pleased the Legislature finally agreed to funding the two percent annual
increases on the basic education funding formula I sought. The original E-12
education bill you sent me and that I vetoed, was insufficient in this regard,
endangering school districts' basic operations and local property taxpayers'
pocketbooks. This bill is much improved and will offer districts a better chance to
keep up with inflationary costs. However, even this significant investment is not
enough to prevent some school districts from teacher layoffs for the upcoming school
year.

There is a substantial investment in early learning which will benefit children
and families across Minnesota, although I believe we can do far better in this area. I
am pleased that the bill includes up to an additional $50 million for prekindergarten.
Results from the first year demonstrated significant demand for this program from
parents, teachers, principals and superintendents. The bill, however, failed to meet the
known demand for the prekindergarten program established last session. This
additional funding is one-time only which is a detriment to establishing ongoing
programs to serve our youngest learners.

In addition, funding for early learning scholarships is increased, but the
requirement for those scholarships to be used at highly rated programs is pushed back
until 2020 and the option provided for schools and child care centers to reserve spaces
is foreclosed.

The Perpich Center remains open to provide arts education and outreach to
students and education professionals. This enduring legacy of Governor Perpich has
been and will continue to be an asset to our state. The reforms included in the bill
should strengthen the work of the current Perpich Center board members in
addressing concerns about the school's governance.

There are a number of laudable investments in the bill, including reading and
math corps, mental health grants, teacher workforce initiatives, career and technical
education programming, transportation, agency operating and IT needs, and the
Bureau of lndian Education Schools. These investments will help support and sustain
educational opportunities throughout Minnesota. I am quite concerned however, that
the funding for the Bureau of Indian Education schools is one-time. This should be
addressed next session. I am also very disappointed that no funding was provided for
special education. The cross-subsidy continues to be a drain on district programming.

Sincerely,
Mark Dayton
Governor

cc: Senator Michelle L. Fischbach, President of the Senate
Senator Paul E. Gazelka, Senate Majority Leader
Senator Thomas M. Balck, Senate Minority Leader
Senator Carla Nelson, Minnesota Senate
Representative Melissa Hortman, House Minority Leader
Representative Jenifer Loon, House of Representatives
The Honorable Steve Simon, Secretary of State
Mr. Cal R. Ludeman, Secretary of the Senate
Mr. Patrick Murphy, Chief Clerk of the House of Representatives
Mr. Paul Marinac, Revisor of Statutes