ST. PAUL, Minn. – The State Senate passed the K-12 education funding bill 65-0 within minutes of the deadline to create funding for the new fiscal biennium. The bill was rushed to Governor Tim Walz, who signed it. He hand-delivered the bill to Secretary of State Steve Simon to make it official. Three other budget bills in the $52 billion budget were also agreed to by the Senate at the 11th hour, just ahead of the midnight deadline to avert a partial state government shutdown. There remained, however, a bill on the hot and mostly partisan issue of whether to clip the governor’s executive powers. The clock was ticking with the looming possibility if a state shutdown of services, including state parks, on the eve of the Independence Day holiday weekend.
