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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Eye On Boise

The proposed cuts

Here are Supt. Tom Luna's proposed budget cuts for public schools:
1 - $20.8 million - Reduce discretionary funds to school districts by the amount of lottery payments and state maintenance matching funds, temporarily relieve state from match requirement for two years, and allow discretionary use of the funds.
2 - $2.5 million - Cut funding for field trips, bus driver training, repair trips and test-driving.
3 - $1.7 million - Reduce transportation funding for high-density school districts and charter schools.
4 - $3.9 million - Cut funding for administrators, through reducing administration staff allowance. Would eliminate 35 to 40 administrators, likely by attrition.
5 - $4 million - Eliminate early retirement incentive for teachers.
6 - $6.1 million - Freeze experience movement on the teacher pay grid for one year.
7 - $15 million - Reduce base salaries for teachers by equivalent of three contract days. Districts would have options on how to implement, including cuts by attrition, furloughs, pay cuts, eliminating in-service days or combining half-days into full days; student class hours wouldn't be cut.
8 - $3.3 million - Eliminate requirement for districts to match textbook funds while reducing discretionary funding by the same amount.
9 - $3.8 million - Cut state funding for textbooks by 40 percent.
10 - $781,000 - Reduce classroom supply funding from $350 per teacher to $300.
The cuts total $62 million. He's also proposing taking $17 million from the Public Education Stabilization Fund, for total savings of $79 million.



Eye On Boise

News, happenings and more from the Idaho Legislature and the state capital.