State representative briefs Austin board on new school-safety and education funding

State Rep. Dr. Patricia updated the Austin Public Schools board on legislative work affecting K–12 schools, emphasizing bipartisan school‑safety measures and new funding streams.

"We were able to get about $5 million to help with anonymous threat reporting systems," Dr. Patricia said, adding that districts will be required to report what kind of anonymous reporting system they will use to the Minnesota Department of Education. Districts may use the BCA tool, a school‑specific vendor, or report that existing infrastructure meets the requirement.

She said the session also provided roughly $12 million to $12.5 million in school‑linked behavioral health grants administered by the Department of Health and about $3.8 million in grants focused on protections related to grooming and maltreatment of minors.

Dr. Patricia described House File 3900, a measure that would put a constitutional amendment on the ballot to increase payments from the permanent school fund. "This would increase funding from about $60 a student to over $100 a student," she said, noting that the change would not be a tax increase but a reconfiguration of existing permanent‑fund distributions and would, if approved by voters, extend some funding to tribal schools.

On compensatory funding, Dr. Patricia said the state could not fully hold districts harmless for revenue losses tied in part to universal school meals, and the legislature allocated a portion of the requested relief. "For Austin that means an extra about $71,000," she said, acknowledging that the amount is small relative to need.

The representative also summarized changes to literacy and special‑education policy: revisions to the Read Act to expand terminology (for example, using "guardian" rather than "parent"), accommodation for nonsound‑based literacy approaches for students who are deaf or hard of hearing, an expanded clinical experience for early‑literacy pre‑service teachers, and House File 3067 aligning qualification pathways for special‑education and Title I paraprofessionals.

Board members asked procedural questions about grant application processes, the ballot threshold for constitutional amendments and whether compensatory funds require additional formula changes. Dr. Patricia said the compensatory task force will continue work on both the formula and how the funds are used.

The legislative update concluded with a reminder that some grants will be competitive and administered by state agencies; districts should monitor MDH and MDE guidance for application requirements and deadlines.

What happens next: board members may pursue grant applications and follow the compensatory task force recommendations; no district action on the constitutional amendment is required until the measure, if passed by the legislature, appears on a statewide ballot.