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Senate committee recommends codifying $6,359 career-ladder increase for school employees
Summary
The Idaho Senate Education Committee voted to send Senate Bill 1095 to the Senate floor with a due-pass recommendation. The bill would update Title 33 to reflect a $6,359 addition to career-ladder salary cells that Joint Finance and Appropriations Committee previously funded in 2023 and 2024.
The Idaho Senate Education Committee voted to send Senate Bill 1095 to the Senate floor with a due-pass recommendation after brief testimony and discussion on the bill’s purpose and fiscal effect.
Senator Jim Woodward, Legislative District 1, told the committee the bill would "get the paperwork caught up with actions taken in previous legislative sessions," adding that the change aligns statutory career-ladder tables with appropriations already made by the legislature.
Quinn Perry, deputy director of the Idaho School Boards Association, testified in support and told the committee the bill “is just reflecting an item that has already happened and we're reflecting in the code.” Perry said the intent language that inserted the $6,359 figure into budget documents expires at the end of each fiscal year, and codifying the amount in Title 33 would give school leaders certainty when negotiating with professional staff after the public-school budget is set.
Committee discussion focused on whether the bill represented new spending. Senator Zito questioned the absence of an additional fiscal note, saying, “this is still bothering me about no fiscal note when it has money in it.” Woodward and others clarified that Joint Finance and Appropriations Committee (JFAC) had already funded the $6,359 adjustment in prior sessions (2023 and 2024) and that the bill does not change the budgeted funding level; it aligns the statutory tables with earlier appropriations.
After testimony and questions, Senator Ward Engelking moved to send the bill to the Senate floor with a due-pass recommendation; the motion was seconded, and the committee approved it by voice vote. The committee record does not show a roll-call tally; committee members voted by voice and the chair called for no opposition.
The bill would amend Title 33 career-ladder salary cells to include an additional $6,359 per the practice of the last two legislative sessions and to codify that amount so it does not rely on expiring intent language. Committee members and the Idaho School Boards Association framed the change as a technical codification rather than a new appropriation.
No additional testimony was heard and the committee adjourned.
