Governor Tim Walz Releases $12 Billion Budget Proposal Focusing on Kids and Families

(KNSI) — Governor Tim Walz announced a $12 billion budget proposal Tuesday focused on kids and families.

Calling it the One Minnesota Budget and claiming it will make our state the best in the country for kids, the proposal would include $539 million in tax credits in 2024 and 2025 and $547 million in tax credits for 2026-2027 to expand the Child and Dependent Care Credit. It would allow families making under $200,000 with one child to receive up to $4,000 yearly for childcare costs. Families with two children could receive up to $8,000, and families with three could receive up to $10,500. The proposal would expand public pre-K seats for nearly 25,000 eligible children, invest in early learning scholarships, and improve childcare access for Minnesota families by increasing childcare assistance payment rates. It would also increase staff compensation at childcare facilities and support those starting childcare businesses.

They also introduced a Child Tax Credit, providing lower income families $1,000 per child with a maximum credit of $3,000, which they claim would cut child poverty by 25% and $2.3 billion in tax cuts between 2024 and 2027. It expands outreach for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and funnels money toward the Minnesota Food Shelf Program and emergency food and distribution facilities.

On the education front, the proposal gives a 4% bump to the general education funding formula next year and a 2% increase the year after that for a total of over $2 billion in education spending. The budget proposal reduces the special education cross subsidy for school districts by 50% and includes $813 million for universal school meals.

Funding for hiring school counselors, school nurses, school psychologists, school social workers, and chemical health counselors and a workforce initiative to address staffing shortages in these areas with additional resources to increase access to infant and early childhood mental health consultation for school-based early childhood programs, School-Linked Behavioral Health Grants and Intermediate School-Linked Behavioral Health Grants rings up at $158 million.

A new department called the Department of Children, Youth, and Families would also be created for programs from early childhood through youth. The core programs considered to move into the new agency include:
Child care and early learning programs.
Child Support, Child Safety and other family-focused community programs.
Economic support and food assistance programs.
Youth opportunity and older youth investments.

Drawing on his experience as a dad and teacher, he says, “I have made it my mission to make Minnesota the best state in the country for kids to grow up. We have a historic opportunity to take bold action to deliver for Minnesotans, and we’re putting forward a budget that meets the moment,” said Governor Walz. “For a middle-class family with young kids, this budget would cut the cost of child care by thousands. For kids across the state, it will reduce their chances of living in poverty. And for our students, it will provide the single-largest infusion of state funding in history, allowing them to provide every student, in every neighborhood, a world-class education.”

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