Idaho Falls finance director explains school funding basics, flags post‑COVID attendance impacts

Lynell Farmer, director of finance for the Idaho Falls School District, briefed the Senate Education Committee on how public-school funding is calculated in Idaho and described areas where current law and practice create pressures on district budgets.

Farmer told senators the state uses a fund-based accounting system (IFAMS) and funds public schools largely through a combination of support units, career-ladder salary apportionment and discretionary dollars. “The general fund is the main operating fund of the school district,” Farmer said, noting school budgets separate operating, special revenue, debt service and capital project funds for auditing and reporting.

She explained support units are generated by classrooms and that the “value” of a support unit is roughly $150,000. Support units are converted into full-time-equivalent (FTE) allocations for instructional, pupil service, administrative and classified staff; discretionary funding per support unit for fiscal 2025 was presented at $43,622, of which Farmer said $20,150 is specifically designated for insurance costs and roughly $23,004 is true discretionary funding.

Farmer outlined the career ladder that determines state salary apportionment for certificated staff: teachers progress from the residency rung through professional and advanced professional rungs after satisfying performance and credit requirements. She also described calculation methods for administrator and classified apportionments, citing FY25 state bases: the administrative base was $44,446 and the classified base was $39,966.

The director highlighted several pressures on districts. Idaho switched funding bases during the COVID-era pause, but Farmer said returning to average daily attendance (ADA) has left many districts with lower attendance and correspondingly less revenue than they saw when funding was based on enrollment. She described the state’s protection program (a pooled insurance-like mechanism for districts) and showed how its assessed contribution rose sharply in 2024 after pandemic-era attendance changes.

Farmer discussed special revenue streams — professional development allocations, college and career advising funds, literacy funding and remediation dollars — and noted some line items are “use it or lose it.” She also described how Medicaid reimbursement and IDEA federal funds interact with district maintenance-of-effort obligations and that many districts supplement special-education costs from discretionary or levy funds.

Committee members asked technical questions about funding formulas, career-ladder timing and how ADA differs from enrollment; Farmer confirmed the career ladder requires teachers to serve the prescribed years on each rung before advancing and reiterated that ADA-based funding makes attendance patterns critical to district revenue.

Senators thanked Farmer for the walkthrough; no committee action followed immediately.