The public school budget is divided into six divisions, or seven counting educational services for the deaf and blind. Each division is funded through a separate debate and motion in the joint budget committee. The first one to come up, for the Administrators Division, was approved on a unanimous, 19-0 vote. Rep. Wendy Horman made the motion; Sen. Dean Mortimer seconded it.

It’s in the next two divisions, the Teachers Division and the Operations Division, that there are two competing motions. Horman’s motion, seconded by Sen. Janie Ward-Engelking, calls for an 8.2 percent increase in state general funds, slightly below the governor’s recommended 8.3 percent increase but above Superintendent Sherri Ybarra’s requested 7.5 percent.  “As you can see, the work group landed right in the middle of the department’s request and the … (governor’s) recommendation related to professional development.”

Mortimer than made a substitute motion, seconded by Keough. “The only real difference is the $4.25 million in professional development,” he said. He leaves out that item, to allow that funding to be tapped for a new health insurance line item.