Highlights Of K-12 Education Budget

Highlights of the K-12 education budget agreement reached by lawmakers this week include:

Pay raises of 4 percent for teachers and staff beginning Sept. 1. House Republicans backed off on their proposal for a flat $100-a-month pay raise, which they said would help workers on the bottom end of the pay scale.

Temporary extension of the 24 percent “levy lid” rate, allowing local school districts, where voters approved levies last year, to collect all the money. Spokane schools stood to lose $6 million in voter-approved levy money if lawmakers had failed to extend the levy lid. In the future, schools will have to collect levies at the lower 20 percent levy rate.

Cuts in “non-basic” education programs, such as vocational programs and bilingual education. The cuts total $2 million for Spokane schools, according to Superintendent Gary Livingston.

A compromise on the controversial “education reform” issue, which called for money to be set aside so teachers could have “planning days” to prepare new curricula and techniques to improve student learning. The money for the planning days - $67.4 million - was repackaged into block grants which school districts may use for whatever purpose they choose.