Education Commissioner Brenda Cassellius named members to serve on an Education Finance Working Group charged with developing recommendations for school finance reform. In addition to school and civic leaders, citizens and parents, the working group included sitting legislative leadership.
The Working Group was established as part of Governor Mark Dayton’s Seven Point Plan to establish better school funding. The Working Group held seven meetings beginning on March 30, 2011. The final meeting took place on May 25, 2011, at which time the report was finalized. The group adopted tentative decisions at the meeting based on the major components within the proposal.
The Working Group reconvened in 2012, and held seven working meetings beginning on June 25, 2012. Those meetings were followed by 11 community outreach meetings throughout Minnesota designed to solicit input and gather feedback on the ideas and recommendations under consideration by the committee.
The final meeting took place on November 27, 2012, at which time recommendations were adopted based on an affirmative vote of two-thirds of a quorum present.