Education
Real Per Pupil State Aid Has Declined Since FY 2003
The conservative Minnesota Business Partnership recently challenged our contention that real (i.e., inflation-adjusted) per pupil state aid has declined since fiscal year (FY) 2003. North Star’s assertion in regard to declining state aid is completely accurate—if you use an inflation index appropriate to measuring the impact of inflation on school district finances. Only by using…
Read MoreBasic School Revenue Hasn't Kept Up with Inflation
Most of the assistance that Minnesota school districts receive from the state comes in the form of basic general education formula revenue. This revenue establishes a base level of funding for all districts, from which—in theory—basic school operating expenses can be funded. Despite increases in recent years, real (i.e., inflation-adjusted) basic formula revenue is over…
Read MoreAre 529 Tax Breaks Working?
In order to incentivize families to save for their children’s college education, Minnesota and other states are exploring income tax credits and deductions for 529 plans. Named after section 529 of the Internal Revenue Code, these investment vehicles were designed to encourage parents to save for college by granting tax breaks on higher education savings…
Read MoreShocking Implications of Private School Tax Credits
Conservatives continue to push vouchers and private school tax credits, despite new research (summarized in a recent North Star article) indicating that this approach is counter-productive to improving student achievement. Minnesota is among the states considering expanding the K-12 education tax credit to include contributions by individuals and corporations to foundations that provide vouchers and…
Read MoreSharp Jump in Homeowner Property Taxes
Property taxes paid as a percent of income have declined for the typical Minnesota homeowner since 2007, according to the Minnesota Center for Fiscal Excellence (MCFE), formerly the Minnesota Taxpayers Association. As noted in the previous article in this series, however, this conclusion is not necessarily warranted by the data. Furthermore, if we look at…
Read MoreSchool Vouchers are the Wrong Choice
Many in the conservative movement advocate for “school choice”: aka educational reform in the way of school vouchers, but there are waves and waves of research that suggest private school vouchers harm students who receive them. But first: What are school vouchers? The concept originated with Milton Friedman, and is essentially a strategy to privatize…
Read MoreMinnesota Tuition Hikes Surpass U.S. Average Since 2000
State support for higher education in Minnesota has declined over the course of the 21st century and—as a result—tuition has skyrocketed, as demonstrated in part one and part two of this series. While these trends are not unique to Minnesota, the decline of state support and the growth in tuition in the Gopher State has…
Read MoreDeclining State Aid Translates into Soaring Tuition
State support for higher education declined by over 40 percent from fiscal year (FY) 2000 to 2015, after adjusting for inflation and changes in enrollment, as reported in the first part of this series. However, the burden of state funding cuts did not fall so much on institutions of higher education, but on college and…
Read MoreState Support for Higher Education Drops Dramatically Since 2000
A conservative interest group recently claimed that higher education has become a tremendous suck on state resources. A close examination of public higher education revenue in Minnesota tells a different story. Since the turn of the century, state support for higher education has dropped dramatically, after adjusting for inflation and changes in enrollment. Data for…
Read MoreState Aid Trends for School Districts with 2016 Operating Referendum
On November 8, voters in 28 school districts will go to the polls to vote on school operating referenda.* As noted in a recent North Star article, a primary cause for the prevalence of operating referenda in Minnesota (all but 3 of Minnesota’s approximately 330 school districts rely on referendum revenue to finance a portion…
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