Good morning, and happy Thursday.
President Joe Biden has scheduled a trip to Minneapolis on Monday. The White House said late Wednesday that he will discuss his economic agenda, job growth, clean energy and manufacturing.
Reacting to this week’s school shooting in Nashville, Minnesota Rep. Dean Phillips said he now supports armed security guards at all schools. “I might be an outlier on this as a Democrat, but in the near term, I'm becoming of the opinion that we must ensure that there is an armed security officer at every school possible in America right now,” Phillips told MPR News. “It is one of the few actionable, bipartisan — I'd like to think — measures we can take in the near term to at least provide a modicum of safety to our children.” Phillips also called on Americans to mobilize and demand action as Republicans in Congress appear unwilling to take any action on guns.
It’s shaping up to be a big year for school budgets. MPR’s Brian Bakst reports: The DFL-led House and Senate agree on the overall amount — more than $2.1 billion in new money for the next two years — but differ on how to spread the dollars out. “We are making investments in our Minnesota students like we've never done before,” said Senate Education Finance Committee Chair Mary Kunesh, DFL-New Brighton. For Minnesota schools, aid amounts from the state depend on multiple factors. The most significant is a district’s overall number of students. A lot of state dollars flow down through the basic per-student formula. This year, it’s $6,863. Both House and Senate education budget bills would push that amount up by $275 for next school year, a 4 percent increase. House Education Finance Chair Cheryl Youakim, DFL-Hopkins, said it’s just a start. “This year, we're finally going to make a historic investment in education,” she said Wednesday. “But 20 years of underfunding can't be made up in one biennium.” It’s the second year and beyond where debate over the pot of new money gets tricky. The Senate plan follows the 4 percent aid boost with a 5 percent bump. In the House proposal, year two brings 2 percent. But the House bill has a feature the Senate bill doesn’t: The funding formula would automatically go up with a measure of inflation for years into the future — capped at 3 percent annually.
Remember the Taste of Minnesota? It was a summertime festival and July 4 fireworks show that started on the grounds of the Minnesota Capitol, moved to Harriet Island and eventually faded away. Now $1.8 million has showed up with little notice in a budget bill to bring it back. Brian and MPR’s Tim Nelson report: The wider budget bill was released just ahead of its first hearing on Wednesday. The Taste of Minnesota line-item got a mere five-second mention by committee staff as they outlined the budget bill’s provision. The same bill has about $5 million to help pull off a bid for the 2027 World Expo, which would be held in Bloomington. There are also various grants for film and TV projects, and other potential tourism related events. The Taste of Minnesota measure was introduced earlier this week by Rep. Jerry Newton, DFL-Coon Rapids, and Sens. John Hoffman, DFL-Champlain, and Jim Abeler, R-Anoka. It moved with unusual speed to be inserted in a broader budget package in the Senate Jobs and Economic Development Committee that will be voted on in a few weeks. Sen. Scott Dibble, DFL-Minneapolis is scheduled to be added as a co-author on Thursday, according to a Senate action log. The Minneapolis Downtown Council did not immediately respond to inquiries about the event, although a spokesperson later said that the group was not ready to offer any details and planned to announce something “in a couple of days.”
Gov. Tim Walz on Wednesday named Stephanie Burrage to be Minnesota’s first Chief Equity Officer. MPR’s Dana Ferguson reports: Burrage is set to move from her current position as deputy commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Education. In that role, she has focused on human resources, government relations and the department’s Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Center. She also led a months-long effort called Mind, Body and Soul — a gathering of hundreds of Black leaders around the state to seek advice about the biggest issues that communities face and about the funding areas that could improve quality of life for Minnesotans of color. In her new post, Burrage will create a new state office of equity and opportunity. Burrage said that in her previous roles at the department and working as a teacher, principal and superintendent, listening and building community have been central to her work. “I hope that in this role that I am able to work with all the communities across the state of Minnesota,” Burrage said. “I don't care where you are, if it's your race, gender, sexual orientation, if it is every connection of where we sit, our geography, that is important for all of us to work together.”
Legislators are looking to stop people from spreading disinformation designed from discouraging Minnesotans from voting. The Star Tribune reports: The proposal, nearing a vote as part of a broader DFL-led elections package, would carry a gross misdemeanor penalty and allow the attorney general and others to bring civil action against someone who violates the law within 60 days of an election. "In America, everyone has a right to be wrong," said Secretary of State Steve Simon. "What you can't do ... is intentionally, with the intent to impede someone's access to the polls, lie and say things that are not true. That is the cornerstone of the fight against disinformation." The bill is part of a suite of proposals moving this session that aims to combat false and manipulated information about state elections and candidates while also adding new protections for election workers, who have borne the brunt of anger from voters as disinformation has spread. "It's a crisis that is impacting people's confidence in the election, and a lot of it is rooted in the 'Big Lie' of 2020," said Rep. Emma Greenman, DFL-Minneapolis, referring to the falsehood that the last presidential election was stolen. "When there is a lie about a stolen election, the culprit in this lie has become election workers, the men and women who do apolitical work to make our elections run."
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