Dear PACT Stakeholders:
This spring presents an opportunity to advocate for our students and school.
Legislators have introduced bills to allocate $73 million in additional funding to charter schools across Minnesota. This is a significant step toward funding equity for schools like PACT. Your support is essential to advance this effort.
Please consider taking one or both of the following actions:
1. Contact your elected officials and urge them to support this charter funding legislation.
2. Thank the bill authors who are supporting fair funding for chartered public schools.
Sample scripts and step-by-step instructions are provided below for your convenience. You can also read more about this initiative in a recent news story on charter funding equity.
Every message makes a difference. Thank you for supporting PACT and charter school students across Minnesota.
With gratitude,
Dr. Nathan Flansburg
Superintendent, PACT Charter Schools
MESSAGE 1 - YOUR ELECTED OFFICIALS:
Directions:
If you are unsure who represents your school, you can find your elected officials here. House: On the website above, click “contact” next to your representative’s picture to access their email address. For Senate instructions, see below. -
Senate: Senate email addresses typically follow this format:
Sample Script
Dear _______:
My name is____________. I’m a constituent and also a ____________(Share role within a charter school - e.g., leader, board member, parent, etc.) at PACT Charter School in Ramsey, Minnesota.
On average, chartered public schools receive about 70% of the funding that traditional public schools receive, partly because charters cannot levy taxes. One proposed bill would address this inequity by providing state aid to match the Local Optional Revenue levy aid that traditional districts receive. Another bill would increase lease aid, which has not increased since 2013. Both bills have bipartisan authorship. You can learn more in this KSTP news feature on the legislation.
Do you support these efforts? I hope we can count on your support this year and next as budgets are set. Chartered public school students deserve fair funding. Please let me know if you have any questions.
Sincerely,
2 - THANKING THE BILL AUTHORS
TO: Senator Coleman sen.julia.coleman@mnsenate.gov
Senator Pha sen.susan.pha@mnsenate.gov
Dear Senator Coleman and Pha:
My name is____________. I’m a ____________(Share role within a charter school - e.g., leader, board member, parent, etc.) at PACT Charter School in Ramsey, Minnesota.
Thank you for authoring and coauthoring SF1294 and SF2576 to address critical funding gaps for chartered public schools. Your leadership on funding equity is greatly appreciated.
We hope to have your continued leadership as we enter next year’s budget-setting session.
Thank you again!
Sincerely,
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