LFA demonstrates funding-item follow-up tool; highlights under- and encumbered spending

Rochelle Gunderson of the Legislative Fiscal Analyst's Office demonstrated the funding item follow-up report to the Public Education Appropriations Subcommittee on Jan. 30, 2025, walking members through the COBie interface and showing program-level expenditure and performance indicators.

Gunderson showed the funded-project list for the Public Education committee and explained the colored indicators: green for on track, yellow for items to watch, and red for missing data (none reported at the time). She clicked into named projects to show spending and performance notes: POPS had been appropriated $750,000 and reported $397,000 spent to date but had exceeded its performance target; the Beverly Taylor Sorenson fund reported being slightly short of its appropriation but had increased the number of schools served.

Gunderson explained common reasons for underspending, including contract encumbrances and hiring delays; educator-salary amendments showed underspending attributed to positions not yet filled. She said the committee's reporting threshold for requiring a performance measure is $500,000, meaning many public-education items meet that standard while smaller items sometimes lack a one-year performance indicator. The tool allows committee staff to request additional performance measures when appropriate.

Why it matters: The tool is intended to improve transparency and help the committee evaluate whether funded projects are meeting targets before allocating or reallocating funds.

Next steps: Gunderson encouraged members to use the report and said analysts will add recommendations or request measures where data are missing.