Politics & Government
Letter to the Editor: Anderson and Republican Legislators Care About School Funding
Burnsville resident Lois Finan writes in to Eagan Patch about Rep. Diane Anderson, school funding shifts and HF 2083.
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Editor's Note: To submit a letter to the editor, email Eagan Patch Editor David Henke at david.henke@patch.com.
The Republican legislature did a great job on the 2012 budget. I am very impressed with the work they did. Rep. Anderson cares about making sure we have quality education and our schools are well funded.
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Rep. Diane Anderson and the Republican state legislature increased the K-12 education budget by $650 million over two years. There was a $100 per pupil increase over two years. The schools were very happy to get the increase in funding. District 196 received a special grant of $3 million in addition to the increases in the per pupil formula, special education and literacy funding. This grant was opposed by the DFL because they said it was unfair to give the suburbs that much money.
People are criticizing the current legislators for borrowing money from the schools. The majority of the money that was borrowed from the schools was done by the previous legislators. In 2011, the shift was increased from 30 percent to 40 percent. Because of the surplus, in 2012 it was automatically reduced with the surplus money to 35.7 percent.
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Rep. Diane Anderson and the republicans in the state legislature felt it was a priority to pay back the money to the schools with the surplus money. This year there was a bill, HF 2083, that would have paid back $430 million to the schools. This bill would have reduced the balance owed to 29.8 percent. Rep. Anderson voted to pay this money back. However, Governor Dayton vetoed this bill.
Why would Dayton do such a thing? He wanted the money from the shift but did not want to pay it back. Did he veto the bill to make the Republicans look bad? I thought he was for education. I guess not because he vetoed the bill that would have paid millions back to the schools.
Rep. Anderson’s main priority was to use the surplus money for education. She voted for the education fund to receive $430 million. Thanks to the governor, that part did not happen.
Lois Finan
2604 Kennelly Ct.
Burnsville, MN 55337
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