Minn. House Passes Education Finance Bill 71 – 59
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – The Minnesota House passed the education finance bill early Monday morning.
Just before 4:30 a.m. the House passed the bill 71 to 59.
Governor Mark Dayton is threatening to veto that bill because it does not include money for universal, half day pre-school for 4-year-olds.
He has said for months now that his number one priority is money to pay for all 4-year-olds to go to pre-school, if that's what their parents want.
The bill will now goes to the Senate.
While it doesn't include the voluntary, statewide, pre-kindergarten program, the bill does include $400 million in new spending for education.
The last day of the 2015 Minnesota Legislative Session is Monday. Lawmakers have until midnight to get all their bills passed, so meetings will still take place Monday morning.
The state has a budget surplus that's almost $2 billion dollars.
But lawmakers could leave the capitol with more than half of the surplus unspent.
If the governor does veto the education bill, he could call a special session before the government would run out of money and shut down July first.
Because the capitol is being renovated this spring, the governor said lawmakers could set up a tent on the front lawn and hold the session there.
And he said he was not kidding about that.
