Senate committee advances proposal to move K–12 discretionary funding to weighted per‑student formula

Summary

Senate Bill 1096 would redesign portions of K–12 school funding by creating a weighted per‑student distribution for discretionary funds, adding weights for student characteristics such as special education, English‑language learners and economic disadvantage, with a two‑year hold harmless provision for districts and charters.

The Senate Education Committee voted to send Senate Bill 1096 to the Senate floor with a do-pass recommendation after sponsor Senator Woodward and State Department of Education officials outlined a plan to shift parts of the K–12 funding system toward a weighted per‑student model for discretionary dollars.

Senator Woodward said the proposal focuses on the discretionary portion of the public school support budget (a share of total state K–12 funding) and would distribute that money based on student attributes. The bill would assign weights for economically disadvantaged students, English‑language learners, special education students, small‑school adjustments, gifted and talented students and at‑risk students in alternative settings. A student may carry more than one weighted characteristic and weights would stack, the sponsor said.

Woodward told the committee the bill is deliberately incremental: it targets the discretionary portion of the budget rather than attempting to rewrite the…

Senate committee advances proposal to move K–12 discretionary funding to weighted per‑student formula

Summary

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