Retaliation? Rob Kupec Votes Against Funding for Political Opponent’s School District

Is Moorhead-area State Senator Rob Kupec playing politics with the school budgets in his own district?

Before Austin Peterson became Rob Kupec’s Republican opponent for State Senate, he was already serving his community on the Hawley School Board. While Peterson was working to protect Hawley’s teachers, students, and school programs, Kupec was at the State Capitol voting against a proposal that could have provided Hawley Public Schools roughly $630,000 in additional funding.

What makes that vote even harder to explain is that Kupec had once supported it.

In March 2025, Kupec coauthored Senate File 2325, bipartisan legislation creating “general education disparity aid” for some of Minnesota’s most underfunded school districts. But when it came time to vote YES, he changed his mind.

During the June 2025 special session, lawmakers considered an amendment creating the same type of disparity aid and providing millions of dollars to qualifying school districts.

Kupec voted no.

For Hawley Public Schools, the proposal was estimated to bring roughly $630,000 in additional state funding.

So what changed?

In March, Kupec was willing to put his name on disparity aid. In June, when lawmakers were actually asked to provide the funding, he voted against it. Meanwhile, back home, Peterson was already sitting on the Hawley School Board and dealing firsthand with the financial pressures facing a rural school district.

Months later, Peterson announced he was challenging Kupec for the Senate seat.

Kupec has to explain why he supported disparity aid when it was just a bill, but voted against a proposal that could have delivered hundreds of thousands of dollars to Hawley when it actually came up for a vote.

Maybe Kupec has an explanation, but Hawley families are entitled to ask a simple question:

If disparity aid was important enough for Rob Kupec to put his name on, why wasn’t it important enough to vote for when Hawley schools stood to benefit?

Austin Peterson knows firsthand what those dollars mean to a school district.

Rob Kupec had the opportunity to deliver them. He voted no. VOte no on Kupec on or before November 3.