House approves school‑aid H‑1: per‑pupil increases paired with roll‑up of categorical funding and new penalties for noncompliance

The House Appropriations Committee on June 2025 approved the H‑1 substitute to House Bill 45 77, the state school aid appropriation, advancing a proposal that raises the foundation allowance and consolidates numerous categorical line items into a per‑pupil payment while adding new compliance penalties and reporting rules.

House Fiscal analysts presented the bill summary, saying the House proposes a gross school aid appropriation of about $21.9 billion, an increase of roughly $1.1 billion (5.5%) over the current year. Jacqueline Mullen, senior fiscal analyst, said the foundation allowance would increase by $417 per pupil, from $9,608 to $10,025. The House proposal also creates a new section (22f) providing a supplemental per‑pupil payment funded by rolling up many existing categorical line items; House staff described the section as a $3.1 billion pool that would yield about $1,975 per pupil for K‑12 districts, bringing per‑pupil resources to about $12,000 when combined with the…