Dems try to add $10M for school district discretionary funds

Democrats on JFAC are offering a substitute motion on the budget for the division of operations within the K-12 public schools budget. The difference: They want to plug in another $10 million to go to discretionary funds for school districts. Under the original motion from the panel’s Republicans, discretionary funds per support unit to school districts would drop by 10 percent next year from this year’s level, which was down 14.4 percent this year from the previous year. Democrats want to take the money from an unused balance in a school building fund, then pay it back in future years. Rep. Shirley Ringo, D-Moscow, said, “I believe with the onus that we’re putting on the school districts with requirements for technology and the decrease in money for salary-based apportionment, it’s important that we give them this shot in the arm for discretionary funds, which is still a significant decrease from discretionary funds in 2011.”