Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz to debut spending plan for children, education

Gov. Tim Walz focused on one big idea when he was sworn in for a second term: Make Minnesota the best state to raise kids.

This week he will start putting numbers behind it.

The DFL governor is unveiling his next two-year budget in pieces, starting Tuesday with an event at a school where he will talk about children, families and education. He already has indicated some of his top spending priorities.

"We will make the largest investment in public education in our state's history," Walz said as he took his oath of office this month.

He suggested additional dollars for free school lunches, mental health services, special education and teacher recruitment and training. Children and families will be at the center of his budget, he said, and he has an ambitious goal of ending child poverty in the state.

Walz spent his first four years negotiating with a politically divided Legislature, engrossed in the COVID-19 pandemic and responding to the murder of George Floyd and subsequent unrest. His second term is likely to look dramatically different.

Democrats hold full control of state government for the first time in nearly a decade and have a historic $17.6 billion budget surplus to spend. Minnesota's current two-year budget is about $52 billion.

Lawmakers already have introduced many of their hopes for this session, including measures that commit significant sums to paid leave, Social Security tax breaks, housing, infrastructure and other issues.

Walz and legislators generally are aligned on key issues with a few notable differences. One potential dispute is whether to give direct checks to Minnesotans. Walz has repeatedly suggested giving part of the surplus to residents through one-time checks of $1,000 for individuals and $2,000 for couples.

House and Senate DFL leaders did not include the checks in their list of top priorities, but did prioritize expanding tax credits to help families with child care costs.

When asked about checks to Minnesotans on the first day of session, House Speaker Melissa Hortman, DFL-Brooklyn Park, said it was too early to say where legislators and Walz would land on that idea and tax credits.