Batt Delays Fiscal Reforms For Schools

Gov. Phil Batt, who vowed in January to appoint a task force to search for savings in Idaho public schools, has put that plan on hold.

“I think he feels the system is so rapidly changing that it is premature to do it right now,” Batt spokeswoman Amy Kleiner said. “It wouldn’t be effective to do it right now.”

Kleiner said the state Board of Education is only halfway through its review of public school rules and regulations, which impact budgets, and Batt wants to see how changes in the school aid distribution formula approved in 1994 affect the schools.

The governor also could give more direction to a task force after school reforms now under way are fully implemented, she said.

During his Jan. 9 State of the State address, Batt said, “Fiscal reform of our public education system is badly needed” and “significant changes” should be made before further large hikes in school funding are approved.

Two months ago, Batt ordered a $26 million across-the-board holdback in the state’s general fund budget. State aid for schools has been slashed by $13.3 million to less than $651 million as Idaho’s economic growth, and the new tax revenue it generates, continues to slow.

Unless lawmakers formally ratify Batt’s action next year or restore the cash, emergency property tax hikes will be triggered for the schools to make up for the loss of state money.

While some in the Batt administration are pushing for a formal reduction in the state aid package to preclude the property tax hike, such a move was expected to run into problems during the 1996 election-year session, particularly when many considered the original $664 million aid allocation barely adequate if that.