Bill Offers Flexible School Spending

Rep. Jim Stoicheff wants to give school boards more freedom to choose how they spend their money.

Stoicheff, a Sandpoint Democrat, proposed legislation Monday that would allow schools to spend state-allotted money in the way that best served them. Under current law, school board money is allotted for specific purposes. If the board doesn’t use the money for those purposes, it doesn’t get it.

“We kind of got ‘em strapped in a straitjacket,” said Stoicheff.

For example, when the state allots money to districts for extra staff, that’s a district’s only choice. If districts had more flexibility, Stoicheff said, they might choose to spend the money on more pressing needs.

School roofs in Sandpoint would be an example, Stoicheff said, or raising the starting wage in a rural district that needs to draw teachers.

The House Education Committee voted unanimously to introduce the legislation.

, DataTimes