State pays back some school funding 'shift' early; Crookston getting just under $2 million

    The Crookston School District in December received just under $2 million from the State of Minnesota, but before anyone commences with dancing in the streets, it should be known that the funding was previously committed to the school district by the legislature but was delayed as part of the school funding "shift" that helped erase a multi-billion dollar state deficit.

    There is good news, however, in the form of the timing, in that the state made the payment sooner than originally anticipated. "They'll continue to increase the payments semi-monthly from now until the end of June," School District Business Manager Laura Lyczewski explained. As a result, the amount of school funding the state is actually sending to school districts in Crookston and elsewhere in Minnesota will increase from 64.3 percent to 82.5 percent, she said.

    "They'll still be withholding the rest, but it's great that they're giving back some of the money they've been borrowing, sooner than they expected," Lyczewski told the Times. "It helps our cash flow, with the only problem being that we've already borrowed money and we're paying interest on it."

    The withholding of state education money has resulted in "aid anticipation certificates" becoming almost a household word in the Crookston districts and many other districts, as school districts have had to borrow money in the form of AACs in order to pay their bills. In recent years, the district has borrowed $3.8 million, $4.2 million and $4.1 million, Lyczewski said, adding that this year the district will borrow $3 million.

    "We'll probably still have to borrow because they're still withholding money," she said. "But the faster allocation of the dollars will lower the aid anticipation certificates we need to borrow for 2013-14."

    District 1B State Rep. Deb Kiel, a Crookston Republican, announced the faster-than-expected funding allocation, saying that, in all, $1.6 billion is being returned to school districts. The total for Crookston that's being paid sooner than expected is $1,991,245. She attributed the faster payment to the former Republican majority in the legislature "empowering Minnesota job creators" and growing the state's economy.