Dayton Pounds the Pavement While Koch, Other GOP Leaders Demand Bill

Gov. Mark Dayton spent Tuesday participating in a roundtable discussion hosted by officials, teachers, parents and administrators of St. Cloud Independent School District 742.

The subject at hand was the impact of the proposed GOP budget cuts to special-education funding.  

“The current legislative proposal is about $48 million short with special-education dollars, and we really need to find a way to restore those dollars,” Education Commissioner Brenda Cassellius told the crowd. “We really don’t want to further deplete an already-depleted resource.”

Dayton told the standing-room-only crowd that, “We’re going to do what we can, here in Minnesota, with what’s available. So the 129,000 school children in Minnesota who are in special education programs have a huge amount at stake in these budget deliberations.”

Dayton reiterated that the purpose for his participation in the roundtable was to communicate to Minnesotans what is at stake for them in the budget talks.

“It is important that all of our voices are heard so we can come to a balanced, reasonable compromise as quickly as possible,” Dayton said.

Among those in attendance at St. Cloud’s Apollo High School were GOP legislators Rep. Steve Gottwalt (District 15A), Sen. David Brown (District 15), Rep. Sondra Erickson (District 16A) and DFL representative Larry Hosch (District 14B).

All of them refused Dayton’s invitation to join him around the table.

Meanwhile, at the State Capitol

GOP leaders spent much of Tuesday reiterating their call for a lights-on bill that would temporarily bring back to work all state employees laid off July 1.

Furthermore, GOP leaders presented six bills that they said could be signed—and thus permanently restore 16,000 state jobs—if only the governor would call a special session to bring legislators back to work.

“We are within less than one-half of one percent on these funding bills to bring back 16,000 employees,” House Majority Leader Matt Dean (R-District 52B) said. “That is to say we are 99.5 percent in agreement with the governor” on these six bills.

Dean continued: “Throughout the session, the governor has always said, ‘I will not agree to anything without agreeing to everything,’ and (the shutdown) is what you get when you have that mind set.”

House Speaker Kurt Zellers (Maple Grove) simplified the GOP policy position on education after explaining how close the GOP and governor are on the budget amount.

“We think teachers and principals and superintendents should be evaluated so our kids are getting the best possible education and instruction. That makes sense," he said.

Zellers added: “You can see how close we are on things right here. So why hold the absolutely perfect hostage for the pretty darn good?”

In fact, the public safety bill—which is responsible for funding 6,375 jobs—is one of the biggest points of frustration for the GOP because the party and the governor are agreed on the budget and the policy.

Still, Dayton holds to the promise that he will not sign any bills until he has a complete budget in place.

When asked why the GOP has yet to bring a counteroffer to Dayton, despite the governor’s assurance that he would meet under those circumstances, Zellers rejected the notion out of hand.  

“If repackaging another tax increase or somebody else’s tax increase is his suggestion at a counteroffer, we continue to wait for him as well.”  

Senate Majority Leader Amy Koch concluded the news conference with words of frustration.

“This seems so obvious when you lay it out for people. I would argue that we’re even closer on paper than what these numbers represent,” Koch said. “The (governor’s) arguments that ‘I won’t sign anything unless I sign everything’ or ‘We are one Minnesota’ just don’t wash anymore," Koch said. 

The Buffalo native and Wright County legislator said she's deflecting accusations of taking a political hardline.  

“It’s interesting that (the GOP) is being accused of intransigence," she said. "Because I would argue that this is intransigence."