Bill would require State Board to report unfunded costs of education rules; board warns it lacks staff to comply

Rick Ladd, chair of the House Education Funding Committee, told the Senate Funding Committee that House Bill 718 would require the State Board of Education to report the estimated unfunded financial impact to school districts of any board-adopted rules that exceed state or federal minimum requirements.

"We—re trying to determine what is going to be this impact," Ladd said in describing the bill—s purpose to identify potential unfunded mandates that result when rules go beyond minimum statutory or federal requirements. Ladd said that special education costs are a substantial portion of total educational spending and that the state lacks consistent data on the financial impact of rule changes. "When 1 out of every $4 is a special education cost in our education system, basically that—s close to $1,000,000,000," Ladd said.

The bill drew immediate operational…