Senate approves FY‑27 K–12 funding plan with 2% growth; Democrats warn it shortchanges public schools
Loading...
Summary
The Senate concurred with a House strike‑all amendment to Senate File 2201 setting a 2% state percent of growth for FY‑27 and making several K–12 changes (property tax replacement payments, transportation equity cap, enrollment-count timing); the bill passed 27–20 after lengthy floor debate about adequacy of funding and voucher expansion.
The Senate on the floor concurred with House Amendment 5018 to Senate File 2201, a FY‑27 K–12 funding package that sets a 2% state percent of growth and makes a series of changes to how school aid is allocated and paid.
Senator Evans, sponsor of the motion to concur, said the bill would allocate about $4.367 billion for K–12 education (excluding the Department of Education appropriation) and deliver $111,500,000 in new FY‑27 dollars. Division highlights include a 2% state percent of growth, renewal of property tax replacement payments with a $146,000,000 state allocation, a $1,000,000 per‑district cap on transportation‑equity aid, a $7,000,000 appropriation for education support personnel compensation, and implementation of a second (January) enrollment count with quarterly school‑aid payments to reduce multi‑month delays.
Opponents argued the chosen growth rate is insufficient. "A 2% increase is not maintenance. It is a cut in real dollars," Senator Donahue said, warning the funding level will force districts to cut staff, shrink programs and, in some cases, close attendance centers. Several Democratic senators described local district plans to eliminate positions and programs, citing examples from Boone, Gilbert and Ballard school districts.
Senator Trone Garriott questioned accounting methods used to report per‑student figures and said the commonly cited per‑pupil number includes nonstate sources such as property tax and federal food service dollars that do not translate into classroom funding. "What could your public schools do with $1,000 more per kid?" he asked, arguing the state has fallen behind rising costs.
Senator Kornbach placed the dispute in historical context, saying per‑pupil support has lagged inflation by about 11.5% since an earlier administration and estimating that statewide the shortfall amounts to roughly $500 million in the current school year.
Sponsor Evans said the measure also redirects transportation equity dollars so smaller districts receive more support and shortens the lag between enrollment and state payments, moving some distributions to quarterly installments to help districts with cash flow. He urged a yes vote on concurrence with House Amendment 5018.
The Senate voted to concur and then to pass Senate File 2201 as amended; the roll call recorded 27 ayes and 20 nays, clearing a constitutional majority. The bill will be transmitted as ordered.
