New bill amends SB 1108 on school funding

The House Education Committee introduced legislation this morning proposed by House Majority Caucus Chairman Ken Roberts, to make a change to the newly signed SB 1108, repealing a provision that requires teachers who are laid off in the fall due to falling enrollment to get severance payments of 10 percent. That repeal would be permanent. Then, Roberts’ bill would, for one year only, grant partial relief from the loss of the “99 percent floor” in state funding for school districts that lose enrollment, which was repealed by SB 1108. What the new bill would do is allow a district that’s lost enrollment in the 2011-2012 school year to get 97 percent of its previous-year state funding, rather than 99 percent as the previous law required, or no protection, as SB 1108 required. But that would last for just one year, and then it would expire. After that, districts would get neither.

There were lots of questions from committee members, but the bill was introduced.