Possible additional money for schools under federal MOE requirements: $50M

The final numbers aren’t in yet, but the latest estimates suggest that, depending on what happens with state tax revenues in June, Idaho school districts and charter schools could get about $50 million in a one-time distribution of discretionary funds to satisfy federal maintenance-of-effort requirements attached to federal stimulus funds Idaho accepted earlier. That would be about $3,587 per support unit; a support unit is a calculation roughly equal to a classroom.

Legislative budget analyst Paul Headlee said under the same requirements, community colleges likely would get about $5.5 million. If there’s a negative variance in this year’s school funding formula calculations, the amounts to be distributed could drop; if the state collects more than forecast in June, they could go up, and if it collects less than forecast, they could drop.