Fresh off his first state budget, Governor Tim Walz is talking about additional investments in schools for the next round. The new budget maintains four-thousand slots for pre-kindergarten programs in public schools — and Walz is looking at taking that further:
“I think you could probably expect to see us have that as a big piece or cornerstone of our next budget.”
Senate Republicans’ E-12 education point person, Rochester Senator Carla Nelson, has a different view:
“As long as we have limited resources, I’ll continue to push for high-quality early learning, but doing so in a very targeted manner, serving those who wouldn’t get served otherwise.”
State funding for pre-kindergarten has been a continuing area of disagreement between Republicans and Democrats.
