School funding plan taking shape…

JFAC members gathered this morning in a workshop meeting to begin going over the figures and steps they’ll have to take tomorrow to cut $69 million out of the current year’s state budget. A proposal worked up by the JFAC co-chairs, other JFAC members, education stakeholders and others calls for transferring $33.5 million more out of the budget stabilization fund, pulling forward $33 million in federal stimulus money for education that otherwise was supposed to be spent next year, and making an array of other shifts and cuts to accomplish the job, leaving all state agencies facing a 7.1 percent permanent cut in their budgets for this year, but with the school budget backfilled on a one-time basis so that schools would face no cut this year. They’d take the full cut next year, however.

“It nets out very close to what the governor had recommended - it’s only a matter of management for the schools so that they have time to prepare,” said Senate Finance Chairman Dean Cameron. He said that’s what all the stakeholders - the associations of teachers, school superintendents, school boards and more - told lawmakers they wanted.

Certain other areas that can’t take the full cut, including state prisons, would also get one-time money to partially reduce the cutback. By the end of the fiscal year, Idaho would have $30.8 million left in its budget stabilization fund, $17.6 million in its public education stabilization fund and $49.5 million in its economic recovery reserve fund. By the end of fiscal year 2011, however, nearly all reserves would be spent, except for the remaining PSEF fund and the Millenium Fund, which still is being held as a reserve against possible cuts in federal Medicaid funding.

The plan means some major supplemental budget requests couldn’t be funded this year - including $1 million for fast-growing College of Western Idaho, and $14.2 million for Health & Welfare, mostly for Medicaid. That’ll mean some bills will have to be shifted into the next fiscal year. It does, however, call for paying $14 million in bills for the state’s Catastrophic Health Care Fund - which otherwise would have to go unpaid for six months.