Here’s a link to my full story on today’s budget hearing in JFAC on the public schools budget – the single largest piece of Idaho’s state budget, at 48 percent of the general fund. Superintendent Sherri Ybarra told lawmakers Thursday that funding the third year of Idaho’s five-year plan to improve teacher pay is imperative, “not only to attract new teachers into the profession, but also to provide an incentive for our great Idaho teachers to remain in the classroom.”

Next year’s piece of the state’s new teacher career ladder is the priciest one. Originally estimated at $58 million, it’s now up to $62 million thanks to higher than expected student enrollments this year that pushed up next year’s projections by roughly 100 classrooms full of kids. That’s the largest portion of the $104 million-plus increase Ybarra’s requesting for the schools next year.

“This is such important work,” Ybarra told the Legislature’s joint budget committee. She said her budget proposals will bring the state a strong return on investment.

Lawmakers gave the third-year superintendent generally high marks for her detail-packed, fast-paced budget presentation, which was a marked contrast from her first year in office, when her truncated presentation left lawmakers scratching their heads.