Safe schools revenue increased, safe schools aid established, revenue expanded to all cooperative units, and money appropriated.
HF2717 would revise Minnesota’s safe schools funding formula for school districts and related cooperative education arrangements. For school districts, it would set safe schools revenue at the greater of $100,000 or $44 per pupil unit beginning in fiscal year 2026, while the district levy would remain $36 per adjusted pupil unit. The bill also creates a new safe schools aid formula to help cover the gap between revenue and levy, and it includes a one-time appropriation from the general fund for fiscal year 2027 to pay for that aid.
The bill expands the safe schools framework beyond traditional school districts. It allows member districts of intermediate school districts to levy for safe schools-related costs for intermediate programs in fiscal years 2025 and 2026, and it creates a new cooperative units safe schools revenue and aid structure beginning in fiscal year 2027. Under that structure, districts that belong to a cooperative unit serving students would receive additional revenue based on pupil units, with a statewide levy set to raise $4,354,000 annually and revenue transferred to the cooperative unit.
HF2717 also broadens the list of allowable uses for safe schools revenue. In addition to existing school safety and security purposes, districts could use funds for peace officer or sheriff liaison services, drug abuse prevention, gang resistance education, school security, violence prevention, student and staff safety, licensed mental health and student support staff, facility security upgrades, school climate improvements, colocated mental health professionals, and cybersecurity measures including hardware, software, systems upgrades, and cybersecurity insurance.
The bill’s impact on state law would be to amend Minnesota Statutes section 126C.44 by increasing the amount and structure of safe schools revenue, creating a new safe schools aid program, and extending levy authority to cooperative units and certain intermediate school district programs. It would shift more of the cost of school safety funding into a statewide aid-and-levy formula and require the Department of Education to administer the new aid and levy calculations.
Because there are no recorded votes or committee transcripts provided, there is no documented public debate in the supplied materials. Based on the bill text, the measure appears oriented toward broad support for school safety funding, but it could raise questions about the size of the new levy, the use of general fund dollars, and the expansion of spending authority into areas such as mental health staffing and cybersecurity.
HF2717 would amend Minnesota’s school finance law to increase safe schools revenue, create a new safe schools aid formula, and expand levy authority to cooperative units and certain intermediate school district programs. It would also broaden allowable expenditures for safe schools funds and appropriate general fund money for the new aid, affecting school districts, cooperative units, intermediate school districts, and the Department of Education.
No committee transcript or vote record is provided, so there is no direct evidence of debate or opposition in the supplied materials. The bill’s caption and structure suggest a generally pro-school-safety, pro-funding posture, with the main policy emphasis on increasing resources for security, mental health, and related safety measures.
The bill text itself does not identify any specific points of contention, and no hearing testimony or votes are included. Potential areas of disagreement inferred from the proposal include the increased levy authority, the use of state general fund dollars for aid, the expansion of safe schools spending to cybersecurity and mental health services, and the new funding treatment for cooperative units and intermediate school districts.