Lawmakers, Educators React to Governor’s $12 Billion Education Budget Proposal

(KNSI) — Lawmakers and education officials are responding to Governor Tim Walz’s proposed education budget.

The governor unveiled a $12 billion four-year education budget that includes the creation of the Department of Children, Youth, and Families. Something Republican House Minority Leader Lisa Demuth of Cold Spring chalked up to Democrats focusing on “expanding government bureaucracy in education” rather than helping children. She says if the state wants to improve our education system, it “starts with funding that is fair and focused on academic success, better pay for better teachers, and a renewed emphasis on literacy in early learning programs. None of this requires a brand-new government agency, layers of new mandates, and state government micromanaging decisions that should be left to school boards in partnership with parents and their local community. Our children deserve better.”

Education Minnesota President Denise Specht disagreed, calling the proposal “a bold education budget that recognizes the scale of the multi-billion-dollar challenges we’re facing in Minnesota’s classrooms, from staffing, to mental health, to the rising costs of educating students in poverty and with special needs. We’re looking forward to working with the governor, lieutenant governor and legislators to pass an education budget that gives every student and educator, in every ZIP code, the tools they need to succeed.”

The governor’s announcement is part of a bigger overall state budget he’s due to announce next Tuesday, which is expected to total in the mid-to-high $50 billion range. He also plans to roll out other pieces of the budget in the coming days.

Read more about it by clicking here.

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