Sen. Ruth Hardy outlines strike‑all amendment to H.454, tying any new foundation formula to new districts and a JFO study

Sen. Ruth Hardy, sponsor of the amendment, told the Senate Education Committee she had been asked to draft a compromise change and introduced a strike‑all amendment to the House version of H.454. "For the record, I'm Senator Ruth Hardy from the Addison District. And, before you is, strike all amendment to the house version of H 454," she said.

The amendment keeps the House bill's overall structure — including the House's school construction program provisions and a cost‑based foundation formula previously developed by Professor Tammy Colby — but adds two explicit contingencies before any new foundation formula would take effect. First, the amendment requires the legislature to create new school districts; second, it requires a comprehensive analysis of a cost‑based foundation formula to be produced before implementation, with a target effective date of July 1, 2029, contingent on those conditions.

Why it matters: supporters framed the contingencies as safeguards to allow time for mapping, analysis and transition so local taxpayers and districts are not moved immediately to a new funding model. Opponents and several senators pressed for modeling of tax impacts on low‑spending districts and asked for clarity on how the proposed timeline and districting would affect property tax rates.

Major provisions described by the sponsor

- Foundation formula study and JFO contracting: the amendment directs the Joint Fiscal Office to contract with an expert to produce a comprehensive report on an empirically based foundation formula. That study is to include…