Journal of Education Finance

funding priorities for p-12

• • Career Ladder: During the 2020 legislative session, $223 million was allocated to boost teacher salaries. The first installment was for the amount of $32 million. State lawmakers approved the second installment of the two-year career ladder plan to raise the minimum teacher salary to $40,000.

• • Literacy Initiative: The legislature approved this initiative during the previous fiscal year. Lawmakers voted to make this funding permanent in the 2020 legislative session. This action provides continued funding for early elementary reading improvement in the amount of $26 million, due to the 47 percent of K-3 students in Idaho behind in reading skills.

• • Social/Emotional Learning: A $1 million line-item was included in the budget to help schools train their staff to help students facing social-emotional issues.

• • Opportunity Scholarship: The legislature continued funding this scholarship program in excess of $20 million to help Idaho students pay for college.

• • K-12 Funding: After cuts to the original budget, K-12 spending will decrease by 6 percent for 2020-2021.

changes to funding formula for p-12

• • A new funding formula is needed to address low per-pupil expenditures in the state of Idaho. Idaho was expected to roll out a new funding formula during the previous legislative session. However, a planning bill was passed instead. A bill to revise the K-12 funding formula never received a hearing in the 2020 legislative session. Legislators have been discussing a potential rewrite of the funding formula for the last four years, it remains unchanged.

pressing state issues affecting p-12

• • 5 percent Holdback: Executive order cuts budgets by 5 percent. [End Page 272]

• • Career Ladder: The governor has issued a freeze on the career ladder

• • Technology (from $36,500,000 to $26,500,000) -10,000,000 -0.53 percent

• • IT Staffing (from $8,000,000 to $4,000,000) -4,000,000 -0.21 percent

• • Content and Curriculum (from $1,600,000 to $0) -1,600,000 -0.08 percent

• • Professional Development, Gifted/Talented (from $1,000,000 to $0) -1,000,000 -0.05 percent

• • Education Funding Formula: A bill to revise the K-12 funding formula never got a hearing in the 2020 legislative session. Legislators have been discussing a potential rewrite of the funding formula for the last four years, it remains unchanged.

• • Teacher Shortage: Idaho is still experiencing a teacher shortage that is trending in many states across the nation.

• • Lack of Pre-K Program: A bill creating a state Pre-K program has yet to be passed in Idaho. Idaho is one of only four states without a state-funded pre-k.

exclusive to p-12: what are the alternatives to traditional public school offered by your state? what does the trend in funding look like for these alternatives?

Charter Schools: Charter schools do not overwhelmingly impact the Idaho public school system in a negative way. There are 57 charter schools in the state that enroll 24,004 students, 7.8 percent of the state's total student enrollment. If the public education system doesn't get the attention it needs to fix the current problems, charter schools might see an increase in enrollment. The legislature passed a few bills related to the operation of charter schools in the state, but not significantly impacting funding for traditional public-school districts.

total dollar amount for idaho's per pupil expenditure (excluding local and federal funding)?

Idaho State PPE $6,607 * ISDE School Statistics Report 2018-2019

allocation of state dollars and percent of the state budget for p-12

The original state...