Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the K 12 Funding topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Committee advances bill to create weighted per‑student funding for K–12 discretionary dollars
Summary
Senate Bill 1096 would move a portion of K–12 discretionary funding into a weighted per‑student distribution that adds funding factors for economically disadvantaged students, English learners, special education, small schools, gifted/talented and at‑risk students; the committee approved the bill with a two‑year hold‑harmless for districts.
The Senate Education Committee voted to send Senate Bill 1096 to the Senate floor with a due‑pass recommendation after sponsor Senator Woodward outlined a proposal to change how Idaho distributes discretionary K–12 funds.
Woodward said the bill creates a "weighted per student funding formula" for the discretionary portion of public‑school support. Under the proposal, a district's base amount (calculated by average daily attendance) would be adjusted by weights for student characteristics: economically disadvantaged students, English language learners, students receiving special education services, small‑school factors, gifted and talented, and at‑risk or alternative‑school students. "A student can have more than one of these attributes," he said, and the weights would stack.
The sponsor emphasized the bill targets the discretionary portion of K–12 funding — not the full $3.3 billion public‑school support total — and provides a two‑year hold‑harmless for 2026 and 2027 so a district would not receive less overall funding in the first two years the formula is used. Woodward said the bill contains no dollar amounts; appropriation levels would be set in the Joint Finance and Appropriations Committee.
Superintendent Debbie Critchfield urged the committee to adopt a mechanism that directs dollars toward students rather than line items. "What we're proposing with this is to say ... the base amount is going to be calculated by attendance," she said, "and then we weight the amount based on the individual nature of the particular students. Those are characteristics and data points that are already submitted by districts."
Committee members and testifiers debated tradeoffs. Supporters included the Idaho School Boards Association, Idaho Association of School Administrators, Idaho Charter School Network and other organizations, who argued the change would give local schools more flexibility to address student needs. Several superintendents, administrators and parents testified in favor, saying the formula would help pay for high-cost services such as assistive technology, speech and language specialists, and one‑on‑one aides.
Opponents and skeptical witnesses raised concerns the change could create "winners and losers" among districts, particularly small rural districts. Cambridge School District Superintendent Anthony Butler said the district faces a projected discretionary drop of roughly $70,000 — more than 20% of its discretionary funds — under the model and said that cliff would be difficult to manage. The sponsor and supporters said they intend the hold‑harmless period and later adjustments to weights to mitigate sharp losses.
Committee members asked for more modeling and clarification of how collapsed line items would be treated; the sponsor said some line items initially proposed to move into discretionary were removed from the current draft to reduce disruption. The committee moved the bill to the floor by voice vote.
