Krista
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minnekrista.bsky.social
Krista
@minnekrista.bsky.social
Coffee, coding, and cats. Education policy wonk working at Bellwether. Former high school teacher. Born and raised Minneapolitan still living in Minneapolis.
Reposted by Krista
Minnesota officials predict a $2.4 billion budget surplus, but if current trends continue, the state government will spend more than it takes in in future years
State projects $2.4 billion surplus, but potential budget deficit looms - Minnesota Reformer
Minnesota’s budget agency on Wednesday predicted that the Legislature next session will sit on a $2.4 billion surplus, but if current trends continue, the state government will spend more than it ta...
minnesotareformer.com
December 7, 2023 at 2:57 PM
Using only a restaurant, tell us where you went to college.
November 29, 2023 at 3:09 PM
Reposted by Krista
WASHINGTON (AP) — Congress approves bill that averts government shutdown and pushes budget negotiations into next year.
November 16, 2023 at 4:29 AM
Great piece by @bethhawkins.bsky.social about challenges MN faces in recruiting and retaining special education teachers: A 74 analysis shows Minnesota could fill its vacancies 3X over if it lured back special ed teachers from less-grueling regular ed classrooms

www.the74million.org/article/excl...
Desperate to Hire Special Ed Teachers? Trying Looking in Regular Ed Classrooms
A 74 analysis shows Minnesota could fill its vacancies 3X over if it lured back special ed teachers from less-grueling regular ed classrooms.
www.the74million.org
November 15, 2023 at 2:09 PM
Reposted by Krista
This should be getting more play. Michigan saw a MAJOR school finance improvement this year: supplemental funding that's actually responsive to the district poverty level. It'll be even better when it's fully phased in. Check out this Bellwether explainer: bellwether.org/blog/what-mi... #edusky
November 7, 2023 at 2:31 PM
Reposted by Krista
One important nugget from my new New America report on lessons from K-12 COVID relief: Lots of school finance people, including me, warned against using limited-time dollars for recurring staff costs. But districts often made that choice intentionally. 1/3
www.newamerica.org/education-po...
K-12 Federal COVID Relief: What Can We Learn from Doing School Funding Differently?
This report explores how Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) funding differed from school districts’ standard funding, and how those differences inform evaluations of the invest...
www.newamerica.org
November 2, 2023 at 5:48 PM
Reposted by Krista
Dipping my toes (pun intended) back into writing about assessment and accountability with "Testing the Waters" a new report where we talked directly with parents in 4 states about their experiences with new models of through-year assessment. bellwether.org/publications...
Testing the Waters: Insights Into Parent Perspectives on Through-Year Assessment Implementation | Be...
Statewide assessments are an important tool to monitor students’ learning at the end of each school year, and to share that information with educators, families, and communities. But what if instead...
bellwether.org
November 2, 2023 at 4:23 PM
Reposted by Krista
Is the House allowed to decide to use RCV for this? It would be WAY more efficient.
Full results from second round, via Punchbowl:

Emmer 90
Johnson 37
Donalds 33
Hern 31
Scott 14
Bergman 7
Other 3
Present 2
BERGMAN is out in the second round, per Jake Sherman of Punchbowl.
October 24, 2023 at 3:27 PM
Reposted by Krista
Interesting trend: since 1989, public schools have halved the percentage of special education students spending <80% of class time in ‘general class’ (and doubled % spending >80% time in general class).

nces.ed.gov/programs/…
October 24, 2023 at 5:43 PM
Reposted by Krista
St. Paul Public Schools publicly tracked the effectiveness of ESSER-funded strategies. Now it's inviting the public to consider that data in setting the next budget.

www.the74million.org/article/publ...
October 23, 2023 at 4:32 PM
Bellwether's Team Education Finance strikes again!

Lasting Change: A Policy Playbook for Improving State K-12 Finance Systems, offers concrete guidance for advocates, policymakers & education leaders looking to influence K-12 funding reform.  

bellwether.org/publications...
Lasting Change: A Policy Playbook for Improving State K-12 Finance Systems | Bellwether
State education finance systems play a crucial role in providing the resources that schools and districts need to ensure student success. But modernizing these systems to reflect changing needs is oft...
bellwether.org
October 17, 2023 at 2:54 PM
I've said it once, and I will say it again. It should be illegal for states and districts to publish their data only as a PDF.
October 12, 2023 at 3:58 PM
Splitting the Bill: A Bellwether Series on Education Finance Equity gives advocates, state policymakers & other stakeholders a crash course in the fundamentals of education finance. We have updated & re-released the original 9 briefs from 2021 along with 3 new briefs.

bellwether.org/publications...
Splitting the Bill: A Bellwether Series on Education Finance Equity | Bellwether
Bellwether Education Partners’ series Splitting the Bill: Understanding Education Finance Equity gives advocates a crash course in the fundamentals of education finance and in key questions to ask...
bellwether.org
October 11, 2023 at 3:43 PM
Reposted by Krista
-Stable governance and leadership, -Well-paid teachers, -Generous per-pupil funding, -Coordinated, consistent rigorous curriculum, -Dedicated PD and collaboration time, -Baseline social services for all families. Man, turn the music up, I love this song.
“If the Department of Defense schools were a state, we would all be traveling there to figure out what’s going on,” said Martin West.

www.nytimes.com/2023/10/10/u...
October 10, 2023 at 3:19 PM
The US birth rate is continuing to decline due to a host of factors, including lack of family-friendly policies. Declining birth rates and shifting enrollment patterns are impacting K-12 schools and the funding districts receive based on per-pupil revenues.

www.k12dive.com/news/state-o...
By The Numbers: 900,000 fewer babies born in US than 5 years ago
Falling birth rates have long-term implications for school districts’ per-pupil funding levels.
www.k12dive.com
October 9, 2023 at 4:14 PM
In 2022 Minnesota law enforcement agencies seized & kept more than $3.1 million in cash, vehicles & other property from individuals who WERE NOT convicted of criminal wrongdoing. Adds up to one-third of total 2022 asset forfeiture haul made by state agencies.

minnesotareformer.com/2023/10/06/m...
Minnesota cops take millions of dollars from people without criminal convictions - Minnesota Reforme...
Hennepin County drug and anti-violence task forces are especially active in seizing property without convictions.
minnesotareformer.com
October 6, 2023 at 4:43 PM
About 1,100 children from 20 Indigenous tribes attended the Fort Lewis Indian Boarding School for 17 years. For many of them, “school” meant forced labor, forced assimilation, and abuse. Not a real education. At least 31 students died, far from their families.

co.chalkbeat.org/2023/10/5/23...
What a grim report on Indian boarding schools highlights about Colorado schools today
Advocates see a new Colorado report on Federal Indian Board Schools&nbsp;as a stepping stone to educating more students about Indigenous populations.
co.chalkbeat.org
October 6, 2023 at 2:08 PM
Reposted by Krista
Babies and toddlers in the U.S. are disproportionately at risk of eviction, a new study found. And the risk is acute for Black children and their mothers, ages 20 to 35. nyti.ms/46AekF0
October 2, 2023 at 8:43 PM
Reposted by Krista
My colleagues and I have some recent (and forthcoming) work on how evictions impact students in Detroit. detroitpeer.org/wp-content/u...
October 3, 2023 at 8:56 AM
Reposted by Krista
{New} With More Teachers & Fewer Students, Districts Are Set up for Financial Trouble: www.the74million.org/article/with... via @the74.bsky.social
October 3, 2023 at 11:47 AM
Reposted by Krista
Lake Elmo family has been fighting 17 years for city water after state pushed PFAS into their well
Lake Elmo family has been fighting 17 years for city water after state pushed PFAS into their well -...
The Blackford family, of Lake Elmo, Minnesota, has been waiting 17 years for someone from the government to bring them clean city water.
minnesotareformer.com
October 2, 2023 at 2:43 PM
Early ed, K-12 make plans for a government shutdown
Immediate concerns center on Head Start, Impact Aid and school meals, advocates said. A prolonged shutdown would make situations worse.

www.k12dive.com/news/Educato...
Early ed, K-12 make plans for a government shutdown
Immediate concerns center on Head Start, Impact Aid and school meals, advocates said. A prolonged shutdown would make situations worse.
www.k12dive.com
September 29, 2023 at 5:08 PM
Reposted by Krista
{New} Why do so many more young people want to become teachers?
Why do so many more young people want to become teachers?
We haven't seen growth rates like these in years
aldemanoneducation.substack.com
September 29, 2023 at 4:30 PM
Reposted by Krista
Small but growing & consistent evidence that the shocking growth in chronic absenteeism continued into the 2022-23 school year. From Chalkbeat's Kayln Belsha:
www.chalkbeat.org/2023/9/28/23...
September 29, 2023 at 1:22 AM
Reposted by Krista
K-12 school funding is an important part of state+local budgets, but public data on how these dollars flow are often inaccessible in outdated, unusable, or incomplete formats —  such as PDFs.

It doesn't have to be this way.

More from me via Bellwether: bellwether.org/blog/steps-p...
September 27, 2023 at 2:29 PM