Without state help, 777 faces financial challenge

By Reed Anfinson
Without state help, District 777 is looking at cutting several staff positions and perhaps some programs.
Unfunded state mandates and a change in how school district funding is calculated could result in the board of education absorbing $250,000 to $300,000 in lost state aid and higher operations costs.
It hasn’t helped the district’s budget planning that the state Legislature convened nearly a month late due to fighting over who controlled the House of Representatives due to contested elections.
Boards of education around the state are working on budgets for their fiscal school year that runs from July 1 to June 30. There are required deadlines for notifying teachers who may be laid off.
A 67-67 split between the Republican Party and the Democratic-Farmer-Labor (DFL) Party in the Minnesota House going into the current session set up the delay. While an agreement had been reached where the speakership and committee chairs would be shared, it all fell apart before the session started.
A DFL representative from District 40B in the Twin Cities was disqualified from taking office when he was found not to have been a resident of his district. Republicans then gained a 67 to 66 majority. But when they tried to convene the session with their 66 members, the state Supreme Court ruled that the state’s constitution required a quorum of the House to start the session – that meant 67 members present.

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