Lawmakers To Get First Look At Schools’ Budget
In the second week of a legislative session one lawmaker described as “the year of the tightwad,” a House committee gets its first look at a budget proposal that could give lawmakers their biggest headaches.
The House Education Committee is scheduled for preliminary discussion of the public school funding bill, and it will have its choice of measures nearly $50 million apart.
New Republican Gov. Phil Batt called in his budget message last week for general state tax support for schools of $664 million. That would be an increase of nearly $44 million over the current level.
That would be the second-largest school funding increase in the last six years, but far from the $92.5 million, 14.7-percent increase the Legislature granted last year.
Anne Fox, the new Republican state superintendent of schools, will present the Education Coalition’s request for $712 million in state money. That figure was prepared by school officials, the Idaho Education Association and Jerry Evans, Fox’s predecessor as state superintendent.
But Fox thinks she can pare $30 million from the coalition’s proposal, and she favors a $682 million budget - $18 million more than the governor.
After Batt’s budget presentation, some lawmakers said it will be almost impossible to fund public schools at Batt’s recommended level and still meet the requirements of a new school funding formula approved last year.
The cornerstone of Batt’s first budget proposal was a request for $47.5 million in property tax cuts, and the Legislature gets its first look at that legislation on Tuesday.
It’s scheduled to be presented to the House Revenue and Taxation Committee. Chairman Steve Antone, R-Rupert, said the Batt proposal will be sent to a subcommittee headed by Rep. Golden Linford, R-Rexburg.
Batt’s plan is to eliminate $40 million in property taxes collected at the local level for school maintenance and operations, and replace it with state tax revenue.
The governor also wants the state to put $11 million into a fund to pay for major medical bills for indigents. That fund would be used to cover big medical bills in the future, relieving counties of the need to raise about $7.5 million per year in property tax.
The Legislature’s Joint FinanceAppropriations Committee on Friday chopped $2.25 million from state agency budgets, eliminating 104 positions which were funded but not filled. That was the first step in carrying out Batt’s commitment to a leaner state government.
Today, the spending committee starts looking at $31 million in supplemental funding requests. That includes $11 million to pay 1994-95 bills that have piled up in the catastrophic care fund that was established by the Legislature but that former Democratic Gov. Cecil Andrus never allowed to be financed.
Another $7.1 million in supplemental requests is to pay for last year’s wildfire season, and $3.4 million is to continue a child care program. The committee also will consider a bid for more than $3.5 million to pay for keeping some inmates from the crowded state prison system in county jails.