A key Senate Republican doesn’t seem too hot on Governor Tim Walz’s call to change the way public schools are funded in Minnesota. Walz applauds Minnesotans for stepping up in Tuesday’s election, but says schools “shouldn’t be forced to rely on referendums to fix a leaky roof, move a classroom out of a converted storage room, or keep classes small.” Rochester Senator Carla Nelson responds, “I do think you have to have a dose of reality here and that is,… if he were to incorporate… 6.3 billion dollars of property taxes and… add that onto the state budget,… I don’t think that’s do-able.”
Nelson adds Minnesota is currently in the top five for state aid to public schools. Governor Walz has convened a special working group on the topic.