ST. PAUL — In the face of state budget constraints, the Senate Education Finance Committee has proposed eliminating funding for STARBASE, a program that provides STEM education to elementary school students across Minnesota.
STARBASE Minnesota, a nonprofit organization, provides science, technology, engineering and math education to students in fourth through sixth grades across the state.
The program offers schools STEM education kits for educators, along with access to free resources and programs. One of its offerings is a five-day field trip for fifth-grade students to learn about STEM careers.
Since 2018, STARBASE Minnesota has received consistent state funding of around $500,000 annually to support its statewide programs.
As the committee adopted a larger education funding bill, it eliminated funding for the program, impacting at least 438 schools statewide. That’s in contrast to Gov. Tim Walz’s budget proposal, which recommended $500,000 for STARBASE in each of the next two fiscal years.
There are two STARBASE locations in Minnesota: one in St. Paul and one in Duluth.
Scott Manni, principal of North Star Elementary School in the Rock Ridge Public School District on Minnesota’s Iron Range, testified in opposition to the proposed cuts at a Wednesday, April 9, hearing.
Manni said while the Rock Ridge district is facing a $2.5 million budget cut, the district has chosen not to reduce transportation to STARBASE because of the program’s positive impact on their students.
“Those of us that are in rural districts here on the Iron Range have very little access to high level STEM programming, and STARBASE is amazing, and it's amazing for our kids,” Manni said.
More than a dozen people provided written testimony in support of the program. Many of these letters were written by educators who said the program is invaluable for their students.
Cathy Sheetz, a second-grade teacher at Moose Lake School in Carlton County, was one of those teachers. Sheetz — who previously worked as a reading interventionist for students in kindergarten through sixth grades — said her students look forward to the five-day STARBASE program trip all year.
“They come back just glowing and raving about it,” Sheetz said.
Teaching in the small, rural Carlton School District, where many families are unable to contribute additional funding, Sheetz said the STARBASE trip is often one of the first opportunities her students have to leave their community.
“We’d hate to lose it,” Sheetz said. “It would mean a huge loss for our students, our kids and our families. We could be missing out on the next scientist, the next person who discovers something amazing.”
No one on the committee stated a reason for the cut, and the executive director of STARBASE Minnesota did not respond to an interview request in time for publication.
The education funding bill is one of the largest pieces of the two-year state budget that lawmakers must pass this year. The House is still working on its version of the bill. The House Education Finance Committee approved a placeholder bill before lawmakers began a weeklong break on Friday.
Members of the committee said negotiations would continue behind the scenes on a final version before the bill reaches its next stop in the House Ways and Means Committee.
Eventually, the House and Senate versions will have to be reconciled and passed before the Legislature adjourns for the year.
Report for Minnesota is a project of the University of Minnesota’s Hubbard School of Journalism and Mass Communication to support local news in all areas of the state.