Progress on some state education policies

Opinion editor’s note: Editorials represent the opinions of the Star Tribune Editorial Board, which operates independently from the newsroom.

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Although the 2024 Minnesota Legislative session ended with angry, emotional acrimony and shouting matches between Republicans and Democrats, deep in the weeds of the approved bills were some worthy education policy actions.

The recently ended, even-year session was not the primary budgeting event for this biennium. In 2023, lawmakers passed a budget that increased education spending by $2.3 billion — an 11% increase.

Still, millions of state dollars will be appropriated to schools to help fund training related to new policy requirements that will benefit students and educators. Lawmakers wisely approved changing rules for student resource officers (SROs), restricting book banning and requiring districts to develop policies on student cellphone use in school and addressing chronic absenteeism. Those changes were supported by the Star Tribune Editorial Board during the session.

As we argued earlier, for example, rules for SROs needed adjustment, after some agencies pulled their officers from school buildings last fall. Following more inclusive testimony from stakeholders, including law enforcement, this session, the rules were modified to allow SROs to use certain restraints under specific conditions. Officers will now be required to participate in a special training program for SROs provided by the Peace Officer Standards and Training Board (POST).

Additionally, too many students are missing too much time in school. According to state Minnesota Department of Education data, just over 30% of Minnesota kids were chronically absent in 2021-22, generally defined as least 10% of school time. In Minnesota, that’s about three and a half weeks out of the roughly nine-month school year.

To address that concern, lawmakers now require districts to work on preventing student absenteeism; those plans could include practices used in pilot programs in Burnsville and Minneapolis. Among the strategies are home visits, connecting with kids in public areas and improving students’ sense of belonging in their school communities.

In response to concerns about students being distracted by their cellphones, a new provision in the law requires to adopt a policy by next spring. State school administrator groups will develop a model policy aimed to limit or eliminate mobile phone use in class.

And the new education bill includes a provision known as a “ban on book bans.” That change says public libraries in schools and elsewhere may not remove materials based solely on the viewpoint or ideas they convey. The measure was urged to help Minnesota libraries continue to carry books and other materials that may touch on racial or LGBTQ+ issues.

Library professionals will still be able to ban books when there is a concern about materials when they have “legitimate” concerns about “potentially sensitive topics.” And the libraries must adopt policies for selections, challenges and reconsideration of material and report challenges to the Education Department.

Much of the new education money from this session — about $37 million — will increase funding for the Read Act, a program approved in 2023 that requires educator training on literacy instruction.

And funding for voluntary prekindergarten programs will grow to serve an additional 5,000 kids next year for a total of more than 12,000 supported with state assistance. Together, these steps encourage actions that can improve academic achievement and promote inclusive, welcoming school environments.