Minnesota House Democrats want to spend over a third of the state’s expected 1.3-billion-dollar budget surplus to beef-up early childhood education programs. Speaker Melissa Hortman contends, “The most important thing is to get kids off to the right start and, in order to close the opportunity gap, we have to look at those littlest learners.”
Majority Leader Paul Gazelka responds Senate Republicans won’t support bills that spend every penny of the surplus or create massive new programs.
Republicans in the past have pushed to give parents’ more options for spending state dollars on their children’s education. House Speaker Hortman says about that, “We reject vouchers, but we support early childhood education scholarships.”