Legislature passes education budget that protects progress from 2023 session
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ST. PAUL, Minnesota. June 10, 2025 – The Minnesota Legislature came together in a special session Monday night to support public education by passing a budget that kept the most important parts of the historic, pro-education budget of the 2023 session.
“This was a very difficult budget year, but legislators protected inflation adjustments to the per-pupil formula, unemployment insurance for education support professionals and continued increases in funding for special education costs for the next two years,” said Denise Specht, president of Education Minnesota. “Education overall did take some cuts, and they will affect students, but the reductions were smaller than many feared.”
Specht said the budget will allow most districts to continue investing in their workforce during the contract bargaining process this year. “There will be some money for educators to make progress on pay and health care costs during collective bargaining, although historic pay increases like those that came out of the 2023 session will be out of reach at many work sites,” Specht said.
The Legislature and Gov. Tim Walz also created a new pension career rule for Minnesota teachers in the Teachers Retirement Association, a significant improvement over the old plan. However, that was during the regular session and not affected by the votes on Monday.
The union president cautioned that the state’s education budget may change significantly before the end of the year if the U.S. Senate passes the MAGA budget, which includes nearly a trillion dollars in cuts to Medicaid, food aid and public education to pay for tax cuts for corporations and wealthy Americans. It would also create a $20 billion national school voucher program to shift federal money from public education to private and religious schools.
“The MAGA politicians in Washington have a plan to gut public education and Medicaid to pay for tax cuts for the rich. They also want vouchers everywhere for private schools,” Specht said. “If they get their way, students in Minnesota’s public schools will lose while private schools receive public money. Students with disabilities or from low-income families will be left out. If the federal scheme happens, our state Legislature may be back this fall to clean up the damage and adjust its budget.”
About Education Minnesota
Education Minnesota is the voice for professional educators and students. Education Minnesota’s members include teachers and education support professionals in Minnesota’s public school districts, faculty members at Minnesota’s community and technical colleges and University of Minnesota campuses in Duluth and Crookston, retired educators and student teachers. Education Minnesota is affiliated with the American Federation of Teachers, National Education Association and AFL-CIO.
