Minnesota schools are dealing with budget shortfalls and staffing cuts as they face inflation, uncertainty from possible federal cuts and the rising costs of recent state legislation.

Owatonna Public Schools has been overwhelmed the past three years with a large public data request, costing the district more than $400,000 and taking resources away from teaching students.

Some Minnesota school districts are scrambling after finding out they could lose millions of dollars in state funding for next year.

Minnesota State is the economic imperative for the state of Minnesota,” said George Soule, chair of the Board of Trustees. “We’ve heard a clear message from employer and community leaders across the state that they need more graduates with the skill set to move our economy forward. We understand the importance of this work and the board, chancellor and campus leaders are focused on this work.”

Following a discussion that lasted about as long as a school day, the House passed its supplemental education finance bill Tuesday night.

Changes to the Read Act, allowing military connected schools to add a Purple Star designation, and putting a ban on book bans are part of a conference committee report that appears to be all but official.

With a laundry list of differences, the education policy conference committee met Wednesday to walk-through the differences between the House and Senate bills.

State lawmakers have budgeted to provide more than $23 billion to schools in the current budget — a 10 percent bump over the prior budget.

Many districts have found that the deficit is much higher than usual -- for some, up to five million dollars

If Minnesota school districts were a naval fleet, Paul Bourgeois says they have been sinking from funding hits for years.

The education finance and policy agreement returned from conference committee has House DFLers ecstatic. “With this proposal, we make historic investments in our schools,” said Rep. Cheryl Youakim (DFL-Hopkins). “We’ve had over 20 years of underinvestment in our schools. And while we cannot change that overnight, or even in one biennium, this bill is an awesome start.”

In a recent survey, 87% of schools indicated the rapidly rising costs associated with education will lead to a budget shortfall this year.”