JFAC reviews public school support budget as attendance-driven "support units" fall, cutting state allocations

BOISE — The Joint Finance‑Appropriations Committee on March 4 heard an overview of Idaho’s public school support budget that committee analysts said will see smaller per‑district allocations because the state funds classroom "support units" using average daily attendance, not raw enrollment.

Jared Tetrault, deputy division manager in the Legislative Services Office Budget and Policy Analysis Division, told the committee that the state funds support units under Idaho Code Title 33 and that recent shifts back to attendance counts after pandemic-era enrollment counting reduced the number of funded units. "During COVID, the counting process changed from attendance to a hybrid of enrollment with an attendance component," Tetrault said. "And then the switch back to attendance as required in Idaho law...post‑COVID those percentages are closer to 94 percent." He and others said the result is an estimate of about 200 fewer support units for the coming year.

Why it matters: Idaho distributes most K‑12 funding through statutory formulas tied to support units. Fewer support units mean reductions in the state’s statutory allocations even if total student enrollment is unchanged. The committee was shown the "big sheet" summary of the public schools budget and told general fund support totals are in the billions while dedicated and federal sources make up…