Government

Health care workers who have experienced reduced pay and benefits in recent years because of state deficits could receive 2-3 percent pay increases.

A conference committee will likely be needed to merge a pair of omnibus public safety finance and policy bills into one.

Summary: As of 2011, nearly 112,000 students in Minnesota were receiving special education, 13.6 percent of all students in grades K-12, according to Jody Hauer, principal evaluator for the Office of the Legislative Auditor. Hauer, project manager for the Auditor's March 2013 evaluation of special education, points out that special education revenues in 2011 amounted to $1.8 billion. She discusses the four main lines of inquiry of the evaluation: funding; state and federal legal requirements for special education; legal compliance monitoring and enforcement; and characteristics of the students receiving special education. She reports that the per student costs for providing services to children in 13 different disability categories vary widely by category, from $2,583 to $47,252. Hauer also points out the rise in special education costs and the impact of that increase on local school districts. She also discusses major disincentives for school districts to implement cost-control measures for special education and recommends ways of adding cost-control incentives.

With a goal of keeping the court system strong, while increasing access to justice for all, the omnibus judiciary finance and policy bill received a favorable House vote.