(ABC 6 News) – House members and senators representing communities throughout southeast Minnesota met with superintendents, school board members, and others at a forum at Cannon Falls High School to discuss some of the most important issues schools are facing going into this year’s legislative session.

For the school represented, the hope is they can give their legislators a better idea of what the districts they represent need.

“Each school district in southeast Minnesota has their own unique needs, and collaboratively we do have some of the same needs,” said Cannon Falls Superintendent Jeff Sampson, one of the hosts of the event. “I think those are the things that we want to make sure that we’re connecting with legislators on.”

Those “things” include the many mandates the government put on school districts during the last biennium, along with a historical budget increase.

However, some of those mandates haven’t been met with the same enthusiasm.

One such mandate allows hourly school workers, like bus drivers and kitchen staff, to collect unemployment during the summer months.

When that mandate was introduced in 2023, it was primarily funded by the state.

However, the future looks less certain.

“This year, the governor’s proposing $30 million, which will be woefully inadequate,” said Stewartville schools Superintendent Belinda Selfors. “Following that, it will become an unfunded mandate, or a cross-subsidy, in which those dollars will come directly out of our general fund.”

That topic, and more, were brought before the legislators present, who said they were eager to hear what the districts had to say and implement it into their work at the capitol.

“I was a teacher for a long time, but I was never an administrator,” said Rep. Patricia Mueller (R – Austin) “I want to be able to take back personal stories, I want to be able to take back actual experiences, showing how what we write in law and how that can maybe be better and how it’s actually being implemented in the schools.”

That’s even more important this year with the state budget as a major priority.

“We need to know what is the condition of public schools in the state of Minnesota, said Sen. Steve Drazkowski (R – Mazeppa). “What are the things we need to differently. How do we need to steer the ship away from the iceberg that’s out of ahead us.”

Minnesota’s schools take up a huge chunk of the state’s budget, which will have to be passed by July 1 of this year.

That job is being made increasingly difficult as the House of Representatives remains in disarray amid the DFL boycott.