St. Cloud District Resolution Supporting Full Funding of ELL, Compensatory and Special Education

 On March 3, the St. Cloud St. Cloud Board of Education adopted the following resolution urging the legislature and governor to fully fund education for Multi-lingual learners, lower income students and to eliminate the special education cross subsidy. 

 

St. Cloud Area School District 742 Resolution 2023-1 Supporting Full Funding of English Language Learners, Compensatory and Special Education

 WHEREAS:

1)   It has been thirty years since the Supreme Court declared that the Minnesota Constitution creates a fundamental right under the Education Clause requiring the Minnesota legislature to provide enough funds to ensure that each student receives an adequate education that meets all state standards, yet Minnesota has still failed to implement that constitutional requirement;  

 

2)    In 2004 the Governor's School Funding Task Force, recommended that Minnesota's education funding formula should:

"take into account the added costs included with relevant characteristics of each student (e.g., disabilities, poverty, school readiness, English multilingual learners, and student mobility)"

And further recommended that funding should "cover full dollar costs of ensuring Minnesota public school students have an opportunity to achieve state specified academic standards", yet Minnesota has still failed to implement that recommendation;

3)     The Governor's 2004 School Funding Task Force advised that Minnesota should conduct cost research to determine the appropriate weighting for the various relevant characteristics, and advised that "once instructional and operational costs are reasonably determined and sufficiently funded, local education officials have an obligation to ensure both that public resources are deployed efficiently and that students achieve high standards," yet Minnesota has still failed to investigate and determine the instructional and operational costs required provide a fully adequate world class education;

4)   Since that time, a series of reports have decried Minnesota's lack of progress in closing the achievement gap, including Funding Education for the Future, (MDE May 2011) ("There are wide gaps in reading and math proficiency by race and by economic status. Little progress was made in closing these achievement gaps between 2006 and 2010. ''); 80-20-10 Bringing Equity to Minnesota's School Finance System (School Finance Working Group, November 2020) (Over the past 20 years, educational outcomes measured by state accountability tests have stagnated with a large, persistent achievement gap while the percentage of children of color has more than doubled from 16% to 34% ); Office of Legislative Auditor A Minnesota Department of Education's Role in Addressing the Achievement Gap (2022) p 3 ("Minnesota has had long-standing academic achievement gaps, despite efforts by MDE, school districts, and charter schools to implement policies designed to close them.); Educational Outcomes and Minnesota's Economy, Minnesota Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, 2022 ("Data show that Minnesota's public schools consistently underserve students from low-income families, Indigenous students, and students of color".)

5)    While the proposed 2023 budget contains substantial funding increases, it fails to base its funding formulas on instructional and operational costs and continues to foster an unacceptable funding adequacy gap that adversely impacts school districts serving students of color, lower income students, and English multilingual learners;

6)    The St. Cloud District has advised the board of education and Minnesota Department of Education that programming necessary to meet the full educational needs of English multilingual learners, students of color and lower income students will cost $19 million per year beyond the funding that sustains existing programming.

 
7)    The Governor's proposed 2023 budget fails to provide adequate funding to districts disproportionately serving students of color, lower income students, and multilingual learners because it under funds English language education, fails to base compensatory funding for lower income students based on the documented costs of meeting their educational needs, and leaves districts with large special education cross subsidies;

NOW THEREFORE, the Board of Education Resolves and calls upon the Governor, the Department of Education, and the Minnesota legislature to:

1.      Implement Bold Cost-Based Increases in Compensatory Funding, accompanied by requirements that assure that the increases in funding are allocated to increase and improve educational programs and services for lower income students, students of color and English multilingual learners.

 

2.    Determine Instructional and Operational Costs Necessary to Provide Adequate Education. The Board urges the Minnesota Department of Education and Governor Walz to restart the abandoned work of the 2004 Governor's School Funding Task force and to work with school districts principally serving lower income students, students of color, and English multilingual learners to determine the instructional and operational costs necessary to provide those students with the adequate education necessary to achieve high state standards. 

3.    Fund Both Adequate Compensation for Employees and Expanded Educational Services. Minnesota's education budget must provide enough funding to meet the reasonable compensation requirements of existing staff, and also must provide enough funding to expand educational services and programs necessary to deliver the world class education that all students deserve. Having done so, the legislature should establish guardrails to assure that local resources are deployed efficiently and that students achieve high standards. Governor Walz admirably called for a transformational budget: in order to be truly transformational, school boards should not be forced to choose between delivering a transformational education and providing staff with competitive compensation.

 The Superintendent, the chair and their designees are authorized to convey the Board's advocacy for closing the Adequacy Funding Gap, and the Board's commitment to use funding appropriated for those purposes to provide district students with the adequate education necessary to achieve high state standards.