Detroit Lakes, Minn. (KDLM) – Hourly school district employees will be able to apply for partial wage replacement through the a new state program after Gov. Tim Walz signed the bill into law on Wednesday.
The program will allow school bus drivers, paraprofessionals, and other hourly support staff receive state benefits, if they are not able to find work over the summer.
Minnesota is the first state in the nation to offer partial wage replacement to hourly school employees on a permanent basis.
Proponents of the new bill said the law would help with recruitment and retention of school staff, while opponents of the legislation said the addition of an unknown number of hourly school employees to the partial wage replacement program puts the entire system as risk.
Rep. Emma Greenman, DFL-Minneapolis, said this bill was 80 years in the making and, while Minnesota was the first state to implement this program, she didn’t believe we would be the last.

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