Committee refers K–12 forecast adjustment bill as members warn of looming special‑education cuts

The House Education Finance Committee on March 26 voted to refer House File 42‑13, a set of K–12 forecast adjustments, to the Ways and Means Committee.

The bill incorporates updated funding levels from the February 26 forecast and adjusts appropriations for K–12 programs according to statutory formulas. Chair moved the bill before the committee and the motion carried without a roll‑call vote.

Representative Bakefoot raised the measure’s largest fiscal impact: a near‑term special‑education increase he described as about $70,000,000, and another roughly $153,000,000 in 2027 — about $220,000,000 more for the biennium than previously budgeted. He warned that the forecast does not account for planned cuts beginning in 2028 — which he said would reduce special‑education funding by about $125,000,000 per year, or $250,000,000 total — and said those reductions would shift costs onto local school districts that provide federally mandated services under IDEA.

Nonpartisan forecasting staff cautioned the committee that forecast adjustments occur twice a year and that patterns over a small number of cycles can look like trends. The staff member noted five or six forecast cycles in a row have increased the special‑education appropriation and recommended continued monitoring of those numbers.

Several members recounted earlier policy choices that created a special‑education cross‑subsidy in recent budgets and said they shared concerns about additional proposed savings being allocated to special education without parallel commitments elsewhere in the budget.

The committee chair renewed the motion and put House File 42‑13 on its way to Ways and Means.

What’s next: The bill will be considered by the House Ways and Means Committee; committee records show the referral vote occurred by voice vote and no roll‑call tally was recorded in the transcript.