The chief author of the Safe and Supportive Minnesota Schools Act, Sen. Scott Dibble, spoke with Capitol Report about the bill last week.

Dibble responds to critics — mainly religious right and Tea Party groups — who say the bill will be a financial burden on school districts.

“That’s false utterly false,” he said. “We’ve provided significant revenues for schools to address this issue.”

When asked if it is a mandate on schools, he said, “There is no unfunded mandate.”

“Over time costs are going to come down quite significantly. Students are going to be achieving much better academically. Schools are going to be safer there’s going to be far less liability for failure to protect kids.”