Last week, DFL House Minority Leader Paul Thissen wrote some opinion pieces in local newspapers spreading the truth about the GOP’s record on tuition increases.

While Republicans are bragging about freezing tuition, keep in mind that they refused to fund a full tuition freeze for the U of M and MnSCU systems. Many families struggle to shoulder the cost of a quality higher education, which is why with a $2 billion state surplus, this year was the perfect time to lift some of the burden and freeze tuition.

Why didn’t this happen? Thissen explains:

Why, with a $2 billion surplus is tuition going up? The answer is simple – House Republicans would rather put those dollars toward corporate and business tax breaks. In fact, they insisted on keeping nearly $1 billion of our surplus on our state’s bottom-line for a potential “tax giveaway” in 2016 when an extra $85 million would have frozen tuition for every Minnesota student for the next two years.

Hopefully, next year Republicans will realize that middle class families come before big corporations, and they will do right by Minnesota students.