JFAC advances multiple K-12 budget adjustments, approves supplements for special programs and youth assessments

The Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee on Friday approved a series of fiscal-year budget adjustments for public schools and related education programs, including increases for services for deaf and hard-of-hearing students, funding to match federal vocational rehabilitation dollars, supplemental federal grant funding for student supports and a one-time supplement to expand youth assessment centers.

The committee approved funding increases and reallocations across multiple divisions after presentations from Legislative Services Office analysts and department staff. Jared Tetro, deputy division manager for budget and policy at the Legislative Services Office, told the committee many enacted bills have created an unusually large set of “green sheet” budget changes this year and that some items reflect balancing technical corrections already anticipated in agency budgets.

Why it matters: The votes affect how districts and state programs will staff schools, deliver special services and match federal grants. Several actions also reallocate existing dedicated or endowment distributions rather than add ongoing general-fund obligations, while some requests depend on future federal or legislative action.

Most significant actions approved by the committee include:

- $504,900 increase for Educational Services for the Deaf and the Blind to fund career-ladder equivalents, recruitment pay, an early childhood outreach administrator and a Region 4 consulting teacher. Representative Miller, who moved that motion, said, “these teachers, these instructors are hard to find” and urged support for recruiting and retaining them.

- $1,630,500 for the teachers division to cover population forecast adjustments and placement-related salary movement on the career ladder.

- A $9.5 million supplemental from federal grant funds for the student support division in public school support to cover Title I and Part B (IDEA) grant payments that spilled into the current year because districts reached an appropriation cap in 2024.

- A net across-the-board adjustment in the student…