S.F. 2214 is the higher education omnibus bill. Article 1 provides appropriations to the Office of Higher Education, Minnesota State Colleges and Universities, the University of Minnesota, and other related programs. Article 2 makes several policy changes, including modifying various state grant programs and requiring additional reports from both the University of Minnesota and Minnesota State Colleges and Universities.

Article 1. Higher Education Appropriations

Section 1. Appropriation. Boilerplate appropriation language for the omnibus bill.

Section 2. Minnesota Office of Higher Education.

Subd. 1. Total OHE appropriation. $244,154,000 in FY18 and $240,463,000 in FY19.

Subd. 2. State Grant. $185,284,000 in each year; this is a $5,003,000 annual increase to the base.

Subds. 3-19. These amounts are all unchanged from the base for existing programs.

Subd. 20. This appropriation is for an existing program, but represents an increase from $500,000 annually to $3,000,000 annually. The language was heard in committee as S.F. 735 (Jensen).

Subds. 21-28. These are existing programs funded at base amounts.

Subd. 29. This is a change item proposed at $175,000 annually.

Subd. 30. This is a change item heard in committee as S.F. 1324 (Draheim), funding the Large Animal Veterinarian Loan Forgiveness Program at $375,000 annually. The base is set at $0 for FY28.

Subd. 31. This is a change item heard in committee as S.F. 1585 (Anderson, P.), funding the amended program under Minnesota Statutes, section 136A.1275, to provide grants to teacher candidates at $500,000 annually.

Subd. 32. This is a change item heard in committee as S.F. 943 (Fischbach), providing a grant to LRAP at $25,000 annually.

Subd. 33. This appropriation continues funding OHE administration at the base level of $2,564,000 annually.

Subds. 34 and 35. Old language that allows unused money in the first year to be carried forward to the second year, and to allow the commissioner to transfer surplus appropriations for certain financial aid programs among those programs as needed.

Section 3. Board of Trustees of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities.

Subd. 1. Total MnSCU appropriation. $692,536,000 in FY18 and $707,316,000 in FY19.

Subd. 2. This is the base amount for MnSCU central offices and services shared in common among the state colleges and universities: $33,074,000 annually.

Subd. 3. Operations and Maintenance. The total amounts include a $45,000,000 increase to operations and maintenance, allocated 1/3 in FY18 and 2/3 in FY19, as well as some other base adjustments described below. Total Operations and Maintenance is $655,347,000 in fiscal year 2018 and $670,127,000 in fiscal year 2019.

Paragraph (a). Freezes tuition at the 2016-17 rate for the full biennium.

Paragraph (b). This is a change item heard in committee as S.F. 1743 (Fischbach) providing supplemental aid to non-metro two-year campuses. The program adds $1,500,000 annually to the base amounts at the top of Subd. 3.

Paragraph (c). This is new language suggested by the Governor about closing the attainment gap; there is no appropriation tied to the language.

Paragraph (d). $260,000 in FY18 and $140,000 in FY19 are dedicated for the Cook County Higher Education Board. The additional $120,000 to the program in the first year was heard in committee as S.F. 495 (Bakk) and is included in the total O&M at the top of the subdivision in FY18 only.

Paragraphs (e-g). These are all existing dedicated appropriations.

Paragraph (h). MnSCU’s request for the Integrated Student Record System is funded at $2,500,000 annually, and this amount is included in the total O&M appropriation. The base for this appropriation is $0 in FY24.

Paragraph (i). This is a change item heard in committee as S.F. 924 (Housley), funded at $100,000 in FY18 only. The language includes a reporting requirement suggested by Sen. Clausen in committee.

Subd. 4. This is the base amount for the Learning Network of Minnesota.

Section 4. Board of Regents of the University of Minnesota.

Subd. 1. Total U of M all funds appropriation. $639,318,000 in FY18 and $647,318,000 in FY19.

Subd. 2. Operations and Maintenance. The total amounts include a $24,000,000 increase, allocated 1/3 in FY18 and 2/3 in FY19. There is an adjustment to account for a law change made in Art. 2., sec. 10, and the totals also account for some appropriation changes below. The total operations and maintenance is $569,723,000 in fiscal year 2018 and $577,723, 000 in fiscal year 2019.

Paragraph (a). This is a request for the Board of Regents to freeze tuition at the 2016-17 level for the full biennium.

Paragraphs (b-c). These are old dedicated appropriations.

Paragraph (d). This is new language funding the MnDRIVE change item at $2,000,000 annually.

Subd. 3. This is a base appropriation from the health care access fund.

Subd. 4. These state special appropriations are all base amounts and old language, except paragraph (d), which includes an additional $1,000,000 annually for NRRI.

Subd. 5. This is language acknowledging a statutory appropriation to the U’s Academic Health Center derived from the tobacco tax.

Section 5. Mayo Clinic. All appropriations in this section are for existing programs funded at the base level.

Article 2. Higher Education Policy

Section 1. Subd. 7. Reports. Requires the University of Minnesota and the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities systems to include in their biennial budget proposals to the legislature information about work performed by any consultant who is not an employee of the system for which the system paid more than $500,000. The report must provide the name of the consultant, the total cost incurred, a description of the work completed, and a description of the reasons for using an outside consultant. This language is from S.F. 1559 (Draheim).

Requires both the University of Minnesota and Minnesota State Colleges and Universities to provide aggregate data in their biennial budget proposals related to student demographics, student enrollment history, student debt history, student academics, human resources, facilities, and administrative costs.

Requires both the University of Minnesota and Minnesota State Colleges and Universities to provide, in their biennial budget proposal, a comparison of expenditures from the most recent fiscal year to the prior fiscal year, including a full explanation of all material changes.

Section 2. Subd. 1a. Sexual assault definition. Updates the definition of sexual assault in the state’s campus sexual assault law to reflect a change in federal law. The previous definition defined sexual assault as “forcible sex offenses.” This term no longer exists in federal law. The bill defines sexual assault as “rape, sex offenses-fondling, sex offenses-incest, or sex offenses-statutory rape.” This language is from S.F. 1481 (Fischbach), the OHE policy bill.

Section 3. Subd. 5a. Assigned family responsibility. Makes an adjustment to the state grant award calculation by substracting $158 from the modified contribution for all student types.

Section 4. Teacher candidate grants. The language in this section is from S.F. 1585 (Anderson, P.), with modifications.

Subd. 1. Establishment. Replaces “high needs subject area or region” with the term “shortage area.” Defines “shortage area” as a license field or economic development region within Minnesota which has been identified, by the Department of Education, as an area in need of teachers. Extends grants to teacher candidates who belong to an underrepresented racial or ethnic minority.

Subd. 2. Eligibility. Expands eligibility to teacher candidates who belong to an underrepresented racial or ethnic group.

Subd. 3. Administration; repayment. Requires repayment from students who do not complete their student teaching program or who leave Minnesota to teach in another state during the first year after student teaching. Caps the stipend amount at $7,500. The commissioner must consider financial need in determining the stipend amount.

Section 5. Private institutions; adjudication of fraud or misrepresentation. Current law prohibits OHE from providing registration, degree approval, or name approval to a private, degree-granting postsecondary institution if there is a criminal, civil, or administrative adjudication of fraud or misrepresentation against the school. This section removes this prohibition and instead gives OHE the discretion to revoke or deny an application for registration, degree approval, or name approval if the school received an adjudication of fraud or misrepresentation. Permits the commissioner to revoke degree approval for an academic program rather than the school if the adjudication of fraud or misrepresentation was related to an academic program. This language is from S.F. 1982 (Fischbach).

Section 6. County scholarship program. Authorizes counties to establish a county scholarship program funded by any unencumbered mineral royalties or any law imposing a tax upon severed mineral values. Scholarships must be used at a two-year MNSCU institution located within the county funding the scholarship. The scholarship applicant must be a county resident at the time of the applicant’s high school graduation. The county will establish procedures for applying and distributing the scholarship and any additional eligibility criteria. This language is from S.F. 1040 (Tomassoni).

Section 7. University of Minnesota base adjustment. This is an adjustment to the University of Minnesota base from fiscal years 2018 to 2041. The original adjustment was made as an estimate to repay the University for bonds sold under its authority; this adjustment is to recapture the excess appropriation now that the actual payment amounts are known.

Section 8.  Developmental education reform. Requests that Minnesota State Colleges and Universities Board of Trustees to create a system-wide plan to reform their developmental education offerings. The plan must, at a minimum, do the following: (1) focus on placing fewer students into developmental education courses; (2) shorten the duration of time students spend in developmental education courses; (3) lower the cost of developmental education courses; and (4) identify best practices for delivering developmental education courses. The plan must be submitted to the legislature by February 15, 2018 and implemented by the start of the 2020-2021 academic term. The language in this section is from S.F. 1661 (Abeler), with modifications.

Section 9. Greater Minnesota outreach and recruitment. Requires the University of Minnesota to develop an outreach and recruitment plan for students from greater Minnesota. Greater Minnesota means any area in Minnesota other than Hennepin, Ramsey, Anoka, Scott, Washington, Carver, and Dakota counties. The plan must be submitted to the legislature by February 15, 2018.

Section 10. School district graduate reporting.  OHE must publish on its website data related to the rates of supplemental and developmental education course usage by graduates of Minnesota high school. Requires the data to be disaggregated by race, ethnicity, free or reduced lunch eligibility, and age. Must be posted by October 1, 2017 and be updated annually. This language is from S.F. 1242 (Anderson, P.), with modifications.

Section 11. Supplemental aid for two-year MNSCU colleges.  Requires the MNSCU Board of Trustees to provide supplemental aid to each two-year MNSCU college with at least one campus not located in a metropolitan county (Anoka, Dakota, Hennepin, Washington, Scott, Carver, Ramsey). Provides for an annual transfer of $50,000 for each campus but places an annual cap of $150,000 on total supplemental aid for each college. This language is from S.F. 1743 (Fischbach).

Section 12. State grant tuition caps; living and miscellaneous expense allowance. Paragraph (a) sets in law the maximum recognized cost of attendance for two-year ($5,736) and four-year ($14,186) institutions for purposes of calculating state grant awards. These amounts maintain the recognized cost of attendance at the FY17 level. Paragraph (b) sets in law the allowance for living and miscellaneous expenses (LME) at $9,320, the amount set by OHE for FY17 using its authority to temporarily raise the LME to use excess state grant funds.

Section 13. Ongoing appropriation. Clarifies that any funds appropriated under Laws 2016, chapter 189, article 25, section 62, subdivision 11 for grants to teachers in shortage areas and carried forward to the FY18-19 biennium may be used for any of the purposes authorized under the amended version of the program in article 2, sec. 4 (teacher candidate grants).