Minneapolis Schools Still Stuck With State's IOUs

With the state's fiscal situation brightening ever so slightly, schools advocates are doubtless looking at their pile of I-owe-you's from many years of delayed payments, and wondering if the state will reduce the amount delayed until the next fiscal year. 

Thursday, Governor Mark Dayton vetoed a bill that would have repaid about $430 million of the delayed payments.

As Minnesota Public Radio reports:

In recent years the governor and lawmakers have held back a portion of state funds owed to schools as a way to balance the state's budget. Schools still receive 100 percent of their state funding, but it comes in partial payments. Roughly 60 percent was paid out at the beginning of the fiscal year, with the remaining funds coming at the end of the year.

In the bill, Republicans maintained that reserve funds should be used to pay back about 20 percent of the money schools are owed from the state.

The governor, however, did not believe it made financial sense to spend money from the reserve fund, especially as the state struggles with its budget.

What do you think? Is the governor right, or does the Republican-controlled legislature have the better plan?