Idaho bill would cut field trip, school bus funds

BOISE – The Idaho House has voted 50-20 for the state’s first concrete move toward cutting school spending as it copes with a budget crunch, lopping $4.1 million out of state funding for school districts’ student busing costs.

When the Legislature’s joint budget committee sets the public schools budget Friday, it’ll “more than likely” cut the budget from this year’s level, a first for Idaho, said Rep. Bob Nonini, R-Coeur d’Alene, the bill’s sponsor. Nonini said his bill, House Bill 256, will help spread the cuts so they don’t all come out of teachers’ pay. “We’re trying to avoid deep, deep cuts to teachers’ salaries,” he said.

The measure would find the savings by trimming the amount school districts get for busing and eliminating all funding for transportation for field trips. One school district, in Boise, would bear nearly $1.5 million of the cuts.

All but one of the House’s 18 Democrats voted against HB 256. The exception: Rep. Mary Lou Shepherd, D-Prichard.

All but three House Republicans voted in favor of the bill. The exceptions: Reps. Tom Trail, R-Moscow, and Boise Republicans Lynn Luker and Cliff Bayer.