Minnesota has borrowed more than $2 billion from its schools to cover recent budget deficits. A group of Republicans says now that the economy is stronger the state should pay off that debt with money in reserve. But Governor Mark Dayton says raiding the reserve fund could leave the state vulnerable if the economy heads south again.

Republican lawmakers have agreed to use $430 million in the state's budget reserves to catch up on delayed payments to Minnesota schools. Gov. Dayton has voiced some worries that tapping the budget reserves could leave the state with cash flow problems.

House members approved the shift from state reserves to pay back repeated delays of education money to cover deficits. The House plan uses $430 million of the rainy day fund to go toward the $2.4 billion owed to schools.

The Senate gave it's approval to use the state's reserves to pay down a small part of the debt owed to Minnesota schools. The measure gets the state about a fifth of the way toward the $2 billion amount elected officials put off to solve past budget woes.

The Minnesota House approved a tax bill that would freeze business property taxes and create several new tax breaks. Governor Dayton and other DFLers say the freeze will drive up the state's budget deficit in the next biennium. The tax breaks include incentives for investing in startup companies and hiring veterans.

The Central Montessori School has been beset by funding cuts.

The Minnesota legislative session had barely gotten underway when its first partisan battle broke out. A committee working to cut the cost of running the Senate wants to eliminate funding for up to 14 staff jobs -- all of them on the DFL side of the aisle.