ST. PAUL -- Minnesota Governor Tim Walz will hold a news conference Monday afternoon to announce what he says will be a "sweeping education plan".

Political insider Blois Olson says he's expecting the governor to want to put a lot more money into schools and child care programs.

There is a sense that we really have to catch kids up after distance learning and I think the governor's plan today is going to be designed to do that, to think about students of color, closing the achievement gap that was big before the pandemic and is probably bigger now, to make that one of the cornerstones of his budget.

Olson says access to learning outside of classrooms will also likely be addressed in this education plan. The governor's announcement will be at 2:00 p.m.

Walz will lay out his budget plan for the next two years Tuesday. Olson says the governor's budget proposal will include a tax increase for the state's highest tax bracket.

There's an idea here that fully funded daycare and child care will be what the money is allocated for.

However, with Republicans having the majority in the State Senate Olson says it's unlikely that any tax increase will be included in the final budget.

And so I think this is posturing from the governor, it's as much about his 2022 re-election plan as it is the first offer of the negotiations, which could go into May or June.

Olson says other pieces of the governor's budget proposal include using part of the budget reserve to help balance the budget, tax and fee reductions for some small businesses, relief for working families, and help for students who are falling behind.

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