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Panel backs bill to restore 'staff allowance' flexibility for school districts
Summary
The House Committee on Education voted to send House Bill 305 to the floor with a due-pass recommendation. Sponsors and education officials said the bill would remove a permanent penalty in Idaho code that reduces districts’ 9.5% staffing flexibility when average class size rises above a statewide threshold.
Representative Sonia Galaviz, sponsor of House Bill 305 and a member of the Idaho House from District 16, asked the committee to remove statutory language that creates a permanent, one-way reduction in school districts’ staff-allocation flexibility.
"With staff allowance there is 9.5% flexibility allowed to districts to be able to make those decisions concerning their district where the highest need priority are," Representative Sonia Galaviz told the committee. She said the current code reduces that flexibility by 1 percentage point any time a district’s average class size exceeds the statewide average by one full student, and that lost flexibility can never be regained.
Spencer Barzee of the Idaho State Department of Education explained the spreadsheet the committee received. Barzee said the flexibility was added during the 2009 recession to allow districts to operate with fewer positions without losing funding, but the 2016 change introduced the permanent, year-over-year reduction. "Remember that this flexibility can never be lost," Barzee said, describing how districts that exceeded the statewide average in prior years remained permanently reduced in their allowable flexibility.
Superintendents who testified said the penalty has real budgetary consequences. Scott Wollstone, superintendent of the Bonneville School District, said his district drew down $4,000,000 from fund balance to cover expenses after the return to attendance-based funding. Wollstone said a 5% restoration of certified-staff flexibility could save his district about $3,000,000. "On one hand, if we can get this bill passed and we reduce our certified staffing by just 5%, that saves our district $3,000,000 out of that $4,000,000," Wollstone said.
Grace School District Superintendent Jason Moss described using discretionary flexibility to cover transportation, preschool special-education paraprofessionals and other costs; he estimated his district lost roughly $102,000 under current rules. Middleton Superintendent Mark Gee said the change would let growing districts meet near-term needs without immediately turning to portable classrooms or supplemental levies.
Committee discussion touched on alternatives to a full strike — including mechanisms to restore flexibility after a district reduces class size for a specified period — but sponsors and Department of Education staff said that would be complex to implement and could leave some districts unable to recover the flexibility in practice. Multiple members of the committee praised the bill’s goal of restoring local boards’ ability to prioritize spending on special education, transportation and curriculum.
Representative Dan Garner moved that House Bill 305 be recommended to the floor with a due-pass recommendation. The committee voted by voice to advance the bill; the transcript records a voice vote and the chair declared the motion carried.
