K-12 budget committee outlines schedule, asks members to prepare district briefs

The House Committee on K-12 Education Budget convened for organizational business and staff briefings as Chair Jason Getz outlined a compressed calendar for upcoming budget work and asked members to prepare brief descriptions of their districts for the next meeting.

Getz told members the committee must report the School for the Blind and the School for the Deaf budgets to Appropriations by January 29 and that the committee’s K‑12 budget work must be ready to report out by February 3. He said committee members should review the budgets over the weekend and come prepared to discuss them the following week.

Why it matters: the committee’s timeline compresses review and decision windows for smaller education budgets that precede broader K‑12 funding decisions. Staff and legal briefings will be used to inform those votes.

Getz opened the meeting with introductions of members, staff and outside representatives and said he planned a short exercise at the next meeting: each member should prepare two to three bullet points about the districts they represent so the committee can see the range of district needs. “What you will always get from me and that I would like to extend as an expectation for each of you is that the respect level be higher than you'd like it to be,” Getz said during his opening remarks.

Committee staff identified roles and support resources: Jennifer Light, fiscal analyst for the K‑12 budget, said the staff will post budget packets to the committee shared drive when final edits are complete and will send an email notifying members. Nick Myers, from the Office of Revisor of Statutes, and other legal and research staff said they would provide memos and background documents to help members who are new to budget work.

Getz said the committee will likely meet longer hours over the coming two weeks to complete the budget timeline and asked members to expect Tuesday–Thursday sessions and, if necessary, Friday work. He also asked members to review published reports and told the group he intends to work with members to pare down required reportings that the legislature does not use, so staff effort will focus on useful products.

The session closed with a reminder that members will reconvene for a follow-up meeting in two days to share district summaries and begin review of the blind and deaf budgets.

Ending: Committee staff will post available budgets and background materials to the shared drive and notify members by email; members will present short district briefings at the next meeting.