Public schools in Minnesota are getting a long-awaited boost in state funding to better serve exceptionally bright students. (07/26/2005)

Minnesota schools stand to get a substantial funding increase as the Legislature tries to wrap up its special session Wednesday. ( 07/13/2005)

Minnesota's public school officials are expressing relief following the early-morning agreement of the state's K-12 education financing bill. The legislation provides the first increase in school funding in three years. Up to $800 million in new education spending will be available, but some of that is contingent on districts getting approval from their local voters. School district officials praise the return of a positive cash flow. But the action comes more than a week past the deadline for schools to finish their own budgets. Some districts that braced for the worst by laying off teachers are now working toward bringing them back. Minnesota Public Radio's Art Hughes reports. (07/11/2005)

A partial state government shutdown entered its fifth day on Tuesday, with no sign of an immediate resolution. Minnesota lawmakers returned to the Capitol after hearing from their constituents over the 4th of July weekend. Some say voters are mad at the Legislature, and may blame all state leaders. (07/05/2005)

The Minnesota Senate abruptly adjourned without reaching agreement on the remaining budget items. The move affects more than 9,000 state employees. ( 07/01/2005)

When Minnesota legislators complete their work on a public school funding plan, they will likely include a change in statewide student testing. (06/29/2005)

School district leaders are relying a lot on guesswork this year as they prepare their annual operating budgets. They still don't know how much state funding is headed their way, because state lawmakers have yet to pass an education finance bill. (06/02/2005)

Gov. Tim Pawlenty signed the $2.8 billion higher education funding bill in Rochester Thursday. The state's college and university leaders say the recent session was much better for higher ed than past efforts. But students and others say the progress isn't enough. (05/26/2005)

The Minnesota Legislature moved into special session one minute after adjourning its regular session around midnight on Monday. One of the big unresolved issues is education: how to fund it, how to pay teachers, whether to ban teacher strikes during the school year and whether to enact a voucher program. ( 05/24/2005)

Gov. Tim Pawlenty wants to prevent Minnesota teachers from going out on strike during the school year. Critics say the plan is unacceptable, because it would significantly alter the collective bargaining process in school districts. (05/23/2005)

Minnesota lawmakers have yet to hash out how much they'll boost state education spending over the next two years. A look at one school's attempts to deal with tight budgets. (05/19/2005)

Legislators on both sides of the aisle in both houses of the Legislature seem to agree that Minnesota schools need more money. But how much money and the even stickier question of where to get it from are still very much up in the air. ( 05/06/2005)

The K-12 education finance bill lawmakers passed Thursday night provides significantly more money for schools than Gov. Pawlenty's budget or the House education bill. (05/06/2005)

A $12.6 billion package for K-12 education that would give schools their first state aid increase since 2002 cleared the Minnesota House on Wednesday, despite suggestions that the bill doesn't spend enough. (05/04/2005)

Gov. Tim Pawlenty threw his weight behind a proposal that would require schools to spend at least 65 percent of their budgets directly on classroom instruction on Wednesday. What qualifies as "classroom instruction?" Is setting a quota the best way to ensure money makes it to the students? ( 04/28/2005)