Joint committee advances State Board of Education budget changes, including credit-mobility grant and removal of a $5 million item

The Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee (JFAC) voted Wednesday to approve supplemental and FY2026 budget changes for the Office of the State Board of Education, including a credit-mobility grant and other program adjustments.

The committee accepted a supplemental for the FY2025 portion of a credit-mobility grant. Kevin Campbell, budget and policy analyst with the Legislative Services Office, told the committee, “The credit mobility grant … is a $40,000 grant, which extends over from January 2025 to January 2026.” Senator Ward Engelking moved the FY2025 supplemental to add $20,000 from the miscellaneous revenue fund; the motion passed with unanimous recorded ayes in both chambers and carried a due-pass recommendation.

The committee next considered a larger FY2026 package for the Office of the State Board of Education that included one full-time position (1.0 FTP) and line items totaling $360,700 across the general and dedicated funds. Representative Petzke moved the FY2026 package, which adds 1 FTP and $229,200 from the general fund and $131,500 from dedicated funds. Committee debate focused on a separate $5,000,000 item that had previously been proposed for in-demand workforce grants. Representative Petzke said the FY2026 motion “removes entirely the $5,000,000 that was going towards, in-demand grama that were at wait list capacity.” Several members expressed disappointment at the removal, citing workforce and student impacts; others said the change was pragmatic to preserve other budget priorities. The motion passed on the committee floor with a recorded tally of 17 ayes and 3 nays and will proceed with a due-pass recommendation.

Committee members then approved language associated with the FY2026 motion in a separate roll-call vote. An analyst told members the only change from prior language was removal of language tied to the use of appropriated funds; otherwise the language matched the version the committee had previously approved on March 11. The committee approved that language, 18 ayes to 2 nays, and the motion and language will be forwarded with the committee’s recommendation.

The committee record shows the budget adjustments include the credit-mobility grant covering January 2025–January 2026 and the FY2026 additions described above; the transcript does not specify implementation details beyond the amounts and the requirement that the package go forward with a due-pass recommendation.

The committee adjourned the item after hearing from the Legislative Services analyst; the office’s adjustments will proceed to the next steps in the legislative process.