Idaho Falls finance director briefs Senate committee on how school funding works, cites ADA shifts and protection fund spike

Lede: The Idaho Falls school district's finance director told the Senate Education Committee that public-school funding hinges on support units, attendance measures and career-ladder salary apportionments, and that a post‑COVID shift from enrollment to average daily attendance has reduced state payments to some districts.

Nut graf: Lynell Farmer walked lawmakers through fund types (general, special revenue, debt service, capital projects), described how support units convert students into staff and dollars, and warned that the state's protection program — intended to shield districts from sudden drops in attendance — saw costs spike after schools shifted back to ADA measurement following the pandemic.

Body: Farmer said the general fund (IFARMS code 100) pays salaries, benefits and day‑to‑day operations, while special revenue funds (codes 220–290) receive federal, state and local restricted dollars for programs such as Title services, IDEA and child nutrition. She explained support units — often described as classrooms — are calculated using statutory divisors (for example, 40 kindergarten pupils equal one support unit; 20 pupils for grades 1–3; 23 for grades 4–6; 18.5 for 7–12; 14.5 for exceptional/special education; and 12 for alternative secondary schools).

Farmer said one support unit translates to roughly $43,622 in discretionary funding for FY25 (of which she said about $20,150 is designated for insurance and the rest for true discretionary uses). She described the career-ladder system that allocates salary-based apportionment, noting districts may choose to pay above the career-ladder minimums and must use discretionary or levy funds to meet those differences.

On protections and COVID-era changes, Farmer told the committee the state’s protection program — which reimburses districts when attendance drops below thresholds so they can honor contracts set before school starts — surged in recent years. Protection costs rose from fractions of a percent prior to 2020 to a much larger figure in FY24 because many districts returned to ADA-based funding after a period of enrollment-based funding during COVID accommodations.

Farmer also reviewed special distributions for professional development, college and career advising, literacy, remediation and math-and-science funding. She told senators that some of the district’s Medicaid billing and federal IDEA money require local matching and are often supplemented by general or levy funds.

Ending: Farmer answered senators’ questions about health-benefit allocations, the time required to move teachers through the career ladder and ADA effects. She said secondary school attendance remains below pre-COVID levels in many districts and that the committee’s work on funding formulas and reporting requirements affects district budgets and staffing decisions.