Education Proposals' Highlights
Posted on: Friday, 28 March 2008, 12:00 CDT
By Scott Wente, Grand Forks Herald, N.D.
Mar. 28--Highlights of how Minnesota public school funding is affected by competing proposals to erase the state's $935 million deficit:
Pawlenty plan
- Maintains basic state aid to schools.
- Creates a math and science teacher training program, costing $2.7 million a year.
- Establishes a Web-based education resource for teachers and students, costing $1 million annually.
- Makes it easier for mid-career professionals to move into teaching.
Senate DFL plan
- Increases state aid to schools by $28.9 million in the 2008-09 academic year; funding boost amounts to about $36 per student.
- Pays for the school funding increases by taking
$21 million targeted for expansion of Gov. Tim Pawlenty's alternative teacher compensation program called Q-Comp and making about $6 million in cuts
- Changes law on how school districtsget money from a state land trust fund, expecting it to yield more funding in the future
- Funds Pawlenty's math and science teacher training program, but far below his request.
House DFL plan
- Provides a one-time school aid boost of about $44 million; funding hike amounts to $51 per student
- Uses $21 million from Pawlenty's Q-Comp program to pay for the funding boost. Neither House nor Senate approach affects districts already in the Q-Comp program.
- Does not fund the governor's math and science teacher training program, nor the Web-based education resource and other small Pawlenty initiatives.
- Proposes that Minnesota drop out of the federal No Child Left Behind law.
-----
To see more of the Grand Forks Herald, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.grandforks.com.
Copyright (c) 2008, Grand Forks Herald, N.D.
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.
Source: Grand Forks Herald (Grand Forks, N.D.)
User Comments (0)
RSS Feeds