Area schools may benefit in a big way from this year’s budget and bonding bills, but it ain’t over til the governor signs.

Wednesday, May 10, 2000

Area schools may benefit in a big way from this year’s budget and bonding bills, but it ain’t over til the governor signs.

However, should Gov. Jesse Ventura sign both the bonding bill and the K-12 bill, officials in Grand Meadow and Austin will be smiling.

Grand Meadow’s dome school proposal made it through the bonding bill for the full amount requested: $3 million.

"It passed the House and Senate floors both at about five minutes to seven," Grand Meadow schools Superintendent Bruce Klaehn said this morning. Klaehn and his wife Lynette were at the Capitol last night until about 11:30 p.m. and returned at 6 a.m. this morning. "It passed by a wide margin."

That vote put Grand Meadow into new territory, as the dome school proposal was dropped by the Legislature at the last minute last year.

Klaehn was cautiously optimistic about the district’s chances with the governor, and said the governor’s office has lots of information on the proposal.

"No one hears a whole lot from the governor’s office about specific items like this," he said, "but his staff were involved in the final negotiations on the bonding bill. I heard he feels it’s a good bonding bill."

The Legislature also passed a K-12 bill that could mean an additional $802,245 for Austin schools.

"We’re waiting to see what the governor does," Al Eckmann, director of management services for Austin Public Schools, said this morning, referring to the fact that the bonding and budget bills now go to Ventura for his signature or veto. "I don’t know that we’re overly optimistic; we’re going to have to see how things turn out."

Eckmann said that even if the school district does get the additional funding, it doesn’t mean the recent and painful $830,470 in cuts will be reversed.

"Part of our concern is that a lot of the money will be earmarked for specific areas, like vocational education," Eckmann said. "If and when it passes, we’ll have to see what we can legally do with the money.

According to a spreadsheet analysis, Austin Public School District No. 492 will see a total of $802,245 this year in one-time and permanent revenue increase. The one-time total was $397,162, which included $64,547 for secondary vocational programming. The permanent total was $405,083, which included $256,796 for general education revenue, a two-year total of $130,419 for special education, as well as $17,868 for technology revenue.

Local legislators were sleeping this morning and unavailable for comment, but legislative assistant Jane Anzek confirmed some details of the night’s actions.

Also included in the bill was $750,000 for a bridge on the Blazing Star Trail, which eventually will run from Albert Lea to Austin. The bridge will be built inside Myre Big Island State Park.

Anzek also said $810,000 was included in the bonding bill for the statewide facility grant program for hockey, but she didn’t know if that included any Mighty Ducks grants.

A spokesman for the Minnesota Amateur Sports Commission said that where the grants would go would be determined after the bonding bill gets the final stamp of approval by Ventura.

No funding for digital public TV was included in the bill, something KSMQ Channel 15 in Austin has been seeking to effect a mandated upgrade by the Federal Communications Commission.