Capitol View: September 10, 2010 Archive

Emmer promises to hold K12 funding harmless

Posted at 8:03 AM on September 10, 2010 by Tom Scheck (4 Comments)
Filed under: Campaign 2010, Campaign 2010: Minnesota Governor

Republican Tom Emmer outlined his plans for K12 schools today. Emmer promised to hold K12 funding harmless in the next budget cycle. He also said, if elected, he would repay the K12 funding shift beginning in Fiscal Year 2014 (the next budget cycle).

Emmer also outlined other "reprioritizations" of K12 funding. They include raising academic standards, reducing state mandates and rewarding performance.

Emmer's campaign has said this is the second phase of his budget plan. He has yet to outline how he'll erase the state's budget deficit. However, by delaying the K12 shift, the deficit will be reduced by $1.4 billion.

I'll post Emmer's full release once it's available.

Here's the release:

Tom Emmer today released the second part of his budget plan at a candidate forum sponsored by the Association of Metropolitan School Districts.

"Next to creating new jobs in the current tough economy, our highest priority as a state must be educating our kids well," said the Republican nominee for governor. "In tough times, I believe we must prioritize state government spending for the most important public services: I believe our children's education is fundamental to our future success. As governor, I will protect classroom funding."

Emmer noted that Minnesota is competing in a global economy in which business competitiveness and educational excellence are preeminently important.

"My budget promise for public education is two-fold: First, ensure that K-12 funding is held harmless in the next biennium and second, expect improved results through broad reforms," the GOP nominee said.

"We will begin to repay the $1.4 billion education shift in FY 2014. We will do so faster by growing our economy and putting Minnesotans back to work which is why we must enact our jobs creation agenda," added Emmer.

Emmer said that he envisions these reforms to include initiatives related to teacher effectiveness, kindergarten readiness, redesign of teacher preparation programs and enhancement of our accountability system for schools.

Tom Emmer's Budget Plan for Improving Education

1. Hold K-12 education funding harmless in the next biennium.

State general fund spending for FY 2010-11 is set at $13.3 billion. Tom Emmer is committed to ensure that this critical spending of the budget is not reduced.

2. Reprioritize some existing K-12 funding to address critical needs.

Approximately 40% of the state's general fund spending is for K-12, some changes in priorities can be accomplished without undermining local school districts' effort.

* Redirect funding from existing state child care and basic sliding fee child care program to early child education in order to ensure all children are ready for kindergarten.
* Create urban school district empowerment zones and reduce state mandates by allowing school districts to have greater authority to operate their districts.
* Reducing state mandates for all school districts.

3. Insist on major reforms to improve classroom instruction and learning.

Minnesotans throughout the state take pride in their local schools, but they also expect more from them. Tom Emmer believes that reform of K-12 education is essential to maintain Minnesotans' ability to:

* Raise academic standards.
* Ensure accountability for results.
* Reward performance.
* Ensure effective teachers in every classroom.

4. Repay the education funding shift.

If elected Tom Emmer will begin repay the $1.4 billion education shift in FY 2014. By enacting the Emmer Jobs Agenda and putting Minnesotans back to work, the economy will grow and repayment may be triggered more quickly.

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Gov candidates debate school issues at debate

Posted at 11:51 AM on September 10, 2010 by Tom Scheck (1 Comments)
Filed under: Campaign 2010, Campaign 2010: Minnesota Governor

Republican gubernatorial candidate Tom Emmer says he would wait until 2014 to begin paying back a $1.4 billion school funding delay. He also says he won't cut school funding from current levels if he's elected governor. Emmer released his budget plan before a debate today that focused on education issues. He says his top priorities as governor will be job creation and schools.

"Our schools will be a priority because I believe our children's education is fundamental to our success. As governor, I will protect classroom funding."

Emmer has yet to release a detailed plan to erase the state's projected $5.8 billion budget deficit, but his plan to delay paying back the school funding shift would reduce the shortfall $1.4 billion. Democrat Mark Dayton says Emmer isn't protecting school budgets if he declines to pay back the school funding shift. Dayton has promised to pay back the shift in the first budget cycle and increase funding for schools every year he's governor.

Democrat Mark Dayton says Emmer can't say he's holding K12 school funding "harmless" if he's not paying back the school funding shift. Schools across the state have been forced to borrow money to meet their cash flow needs. Dayton says his plan to raise income taxes on Minnesota's top earners is geared specifically to getting more money to schools.

"Public education's problems today are first and foremost financial. Can we reform them? Yes. Must we reform them? Absolutely, yes. Can we make public education better? Yes and we will. But we're not go to do that by cutting and cutting and cutting and forcing more borrowing and putting you in precarious financial situations when you don't know from one year to the next how much you have to operate. And when you do, that funding is taken away from you."

Dayton is making a commitment to pay back the full K12 funding shift and spend more money on schools every year he's governor. Tom Horner with the Independence Party says more money is needed for schools but also wants better results.

"The investment is based on what is the outcome that we want to achieve? And the outcome we need to achieve are our kids graduating from 12th grade with the skills they need to success in life. And when you back up from there, you better make sure they're reading by grade level in third grade and they're coming into kindergarten ready for success and we have parents who understand parenting skills."

Horner says he also won't start paying back the school payment delay in the next budget cycle.

Horner is proposing to expand the sales tax to clothing and some services but lowering the overall rate.

The debate, which was sponsored by the Association of Metropolitan School Districts and moderated by Keesha Gaskins at the League of Women Voters, can be heard here: Listen

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McCollum announces DFL rallies, third debate

Posted at 1:41 PM on September 10, 2010 by Tim Pugmire (6 Comments)
Filed under: Campaign 2010, Campaign 2010: U.S. House

Congresswoman Betty McCollum says she will headline a series of town hall rallies aimed at energizing DFL voters.

McCollum announced the 4th District rallies today in a news release. The first event is scheduled at Macalester College Chapel on Monday, Sept. 13, starting at 5:30 p.m. Other rallies are scheduled on Sept. 18, at the Hallie Q. Brown Community Center in St. Paul, and on Sept. 25, at the Sheet Metal Workers Hall in Maplewood.

In addition, McCollum has agreed to participate in an MPR News-sponsored radio debate for sometime during the week of Sept. 21 Oct. 25. The exact date has not been determined. The White Bear Lake Chamber of Commerce and League of Women Voters of St. Paul are sponsoring two other 4th District congressional debates.

Yesterday, McCollum's Republican challenger Teresa Collett was criticizing the incumbent for declining to attend a KSTP-TV debate.

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Dayton asking for up to $10k for Clinton event

Posted at 2:50 PM on September 10, 2010 by Tom Scheck
Filed under: Campaign 2010, Campaign 2010: Minnesota Governor

Democrat Mark Dayton's campaign for governor is asking donors to give between $1,000 and $10,000 for Tuesday's fundraising dinner featuring former President Bill Clinton. The proceeds of the event will be split up between Dayton, the DFL Party and other candidates.

The Clinton fundraiser will be held at the Graves 601 Hotel in Minneapolis on Tuesday night. No word yet on whether the event will be open to the press.

PoliGraph: Dayton's public worker claim on target

Posted at 2:49 PM on September 10, 2010 by Catharine Richert (4 Comments)
Filed under: Campaign 2010, Campaign 2010: Minnesota Governor, PoliGraph

With all the talk about taxes and spending, this year's gubernatorial race is a debate over the size of Minnesota's government.

While his opponents point to the size of Minnesota's public sector workforce as evidence that government has gotten too big, DFLer Mark Dayton says the talking point is a myth.

"Minnesota ranks, according to Census Bureau, the 10th lowest state in the number of state and local government employees per capita among the states," he said during a debate in Winona Aug. 19, 2010. "It's just one of these myths that's perpetrated that we're overinflated with public employees. It just simply isn't true."

Dayton nearly hits the mark with this claim.

The Evidence

Annually, the U.S. Census Bureau measures the number of federal, state, and local civilian government employees in each state. The survey is required by law, and it's this data that Dayton's staff points to support his claim.

According to an analysis done by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, a union for many state workers, Dayton's correct. (AFSCME has endorsed Dayton for governor.)

With approximately 36,000 full-time state government employees, Minnesota has the 10th leanest workforce in the country. That translates to 71 government workers for every 10,000 people.

(It's important to note that Dayton said "per capita," not per 10,000 employees, but it's an error PoliGraph will let slide because looking at this data per capita would produce very small, not very useful numbers. For instance, per capita, there are about .007 full-time state employees for every person living in the state.)

But Dayton said state and local employees, and the AFSCME analysis excludes local government workers.

Expanding the analysis to include all state and local government employees counted by the U.S. Census Bureau nevertheless produces similar results. By this measure, Minnesota has the 12th smallest public sector workforce in the nation, with about 450 government employees per 10,000 people.

The Verdict

Dayton got a few things mixed-up with this claim, but he's well within range to say that Minnesota has one of the smallest state and local government workforces in the country.

This claim is accurate.

Sources

The U.S. Census Bureau, Government Employment and Payroll: About the Survey, accessed Sept. 10, 2010

The Star Tribune, New normal is painful for state employees, by Lori Sturdevant, 4/19/2009

PoliGraph, analysis of state and local workers, created Sept. 10, 2010

Interview, Jeremy Drucker, spokesman, Mark Dayton, Sept. 8, 2010

Interview, Mike Messina, researcher, AFSCME, Sept. 8, 2010

More

The Humphrey Institute

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