Lawmakers tasked to write Minnesota’s E-12 education budget had a really hard job.

An agreement between Gov. Tim Walz and legislative leaders called for $420 million less in education spending in fiscal years 2028 and 2029 compared to the state’s budget forecast. But it was up to an E-12 Education Finance working group to make the wrenching decisions about what exactly would be cut.

On Thursday night, the working group publicized a two-page spreadsheet showing they had a deal that prescribed the necessary spending reductions.

Sort of.

Of that $420 million, $250 million (or about 60%) of the cuts will come from recommendations by a “Blue Ribbon Commission on Special Education.”

Sen. Mary Kunesh, DFL-New Brighton and co-chair of the working group, said in an interview that it is better

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