Staff: new biennium proposes $1.3 billion for K‑12, plus school‑construction and teacher retirement support

Zach, a staff presenter on public education, told the committee that the caboose bill contains roughly $208 million in technical savings for the current year, primarily from adjusting enrollment projections downward by 1.4%.

For the next biennium, Zach said about $1.3 billion in new education spending is proposed — approximately $695 million from general fund sources and $575 million from nongeneral fund sources — including $449.7 million to rebenchmark the state's public‑education costs for the new biennium.

The package includes compensation actions: a 2% bonus in the caboose bill for SOQ‑funded positions and a proposed state share to fund 2% salary increases in FY27 and FY28 for recognized SOQ positions (staff estimated $380 million over two years for that share). The budget also proposes $299 million for school construction grants, funded in part by casino gaming revenue adjustments and a reduction in authorized literary fund loans, which frees about $172 million to be used in the new biennium.

Zach also noted proposals to increase child‑care subsidy slots by about 6,700 and modest increases in funding for assessment contract costs through the end of the current contract. The presenter said some costs included in the introduced bill are one‑time and tied to adjusted enrollment and benchmark assumptions.

The subcommittee will examine rebenchmarking assumptions, enrollment trajectories and the mix of one‑time versus ongoing compensation commitments during its review.