Governor’s executive budget emphasizes education, reserves, transportation and wildfire funding

BOISE — Laurie Wolf, administrator of the Division of Financial Management, told the Joint Finance-Appropriation Committee on Jan. 8 that the governor’s executive budget is a “keeping promises” budget that balances conservative revenue estimates with targeted investments in education, infrastructure and emergency response.

The budget summary Wolf presented projects $5.9 billion in general fund revenue in fiscal 2025 and about $6.2 billion in fiscal 2026, and recommends leaving a combined ending balance after proposed spending and transfers of roughly $383 million in FY 2025 and $227 million in FY 2026. Wolf said the proposal also transfers money to reserve accounts, including a recommended $59 million transfer to the budget stabilization fund and $50 million to the public education stabilization fund for FY 2026.

Wolf said the administration used conservative revenue forecasting when assembling the proposal and deliberately left “healthy ending balances” to hedge against potential revenue volatility. “This is his keeping promises budget,” Wolf said, referring to Governor Brad Little, and added the plan pairs those commitments with higher reserves.

The governor’s top priority in the executive request is education. The budget proposes roughly $150 million in additional public school funding, including $83 million toward teacher pay and nearly $30 million toward teacher health insurance. The request also sets aside $50 million for education choice initiatives pending passage of enabling policy, and $50 million intended for rural school facilities, mental-health supports and literacy/accountability work.

Transportation is another focus. The budget recommends a $50 million appropriation for an expansion and congestion mitigation fund at the Idaho Transportation Department to enable additional bonding for high-value projects once ITD completes its final current bond sale. The administration also proposes a 3 percent increase to a statewide strategic initiatives fund used for highway maintenance and local (LTAC) projects; Wolf said that raises annual funding for those projects to about $312 million.

Workforce training and career-technical education also receive new funding. The governor requests $25 million: $15 million one-time for a competitive, match-required block grant to expand capacity at community and technical colleges, and $10 million ongoing to support CTE operating needs for expanded programs.

Natural-resources priorities include a $60 million supplemental to backfill the fire-suppression account for FY 2025 and $40 million ongoing for FY 2026 to stabilize funding for wildland fire response. Wolf said the 40 million ongoing is intended to maintain a steady level of funding in the state’s fire suppression account to cover typical annual needs rather than repeatedly relying on ad hoc supplemental requests. The package also includes $30 million ongoing for the Idaho Water Resource Board to support prioritized recharge projects.

Housing and health-care workforce items appear as targeted investments: $15 million one-time for the state’s workforce housing fund and $850,000 one-time to expand medical residency positions (approximately 18 residency slots), plus $500,000 ongoing for a rural physician incentive program.

Cybersecurity and public safety needs are included: a $10 million general-fund investment for statewide cybersecurity infrastructure and an additional $500,000 to continue the state’s fentanyl interdiction initiative. For prisons, the governor requested about $3.4 million in new spending for transport and contraband mitigation in corrections.

State public defense was a specific budget area Wolf highlighted. Following consolidation of public defense from counties to the state on Oct. 1, the administration reports higher-than-anticipated contract and staffing costs and a December Supreme Court decision affecting obligations. The governor recommended a FY 2025 supplemental of roughly $5.4 million and an FY 2026 one-time enhancement of about $16.8 million; Wolf said the total FY 2026 recommendation for state public defense funding is about $83 million and that a policy decision will be needed on whether to increase transfers into the public defense fund (currently funded by sales tax distributions).

Wolf described the package overall as structurally balanced, with conservative revenue assumptions, higher rainy-day funds and continued emphasis on education and infrastructure. Committee members asked for additional detail on specific lines — for example contract-inflation adjustments, the mechanics of the proposed transfers to reserve accounts, and the administration’s rationale for the transportation and wildfire requests — and Wolf said agencies would provide more detail in their hearings later this month.

Committee members scheduled agency presentations and work-group meetings across January through March; members will receive more granular budget documents in SharePoint and in the legislative session record ahead of those hearings.