After Gov. Little’s veto, Idaho Board of Ed approves rule on public school funding
The Idaho State Board of Education approved a temporary rule Thursday to continue to allow funding for K-12 public schools to be calculated based on student enrollment instead of daily attendance.
The rule comes after Gov. Brad Little vetoed a bill passed by lawmakers this session that would have made the formula change state law, with a sunset date of July 1, 2025. The temporary rule from the Board of Education will be in effect until the Legislature adjourns next year.
“We have to solve the long-term problem,” said Kurt Liebich, board president. “What we are doing is providing budget certainty to our districts and charters at a time when they need that in order to educate our students coming out of the pandemic.”
The rule allows the use of average full-time equivalent student enrollment, instead of daily attendance, to calculate the average daily attendance numbers. Those numbers are then used to determine how the state distributes funding to public schools.
The board initially approved the temporary change during the COVID-19 pandemic, as students across Idaho were out of school for various reasons, including testing positive for COVID-19 and quarantining after a possible exposure. It expired at the end of this year’s legislative session.
The Board of Education is planning to work with lawmakers next year to find a longer-term solution.
Little supports Board of Ed reviewing data
In his letter vetoing the bill on enrollment-based funding, Little said that for the past two years, he has approved the temporary rule from the Board of Education.
When the rule was adopted, Little said, it was “designed to address known funding challenges that schools were facing due to a large drop in daily attendance created by the pandemic — often by 15% or more.”
Little said he would support the Board of Education reviewing the data with school administrators this fall and putting into place another temporary rule to allow funding to continue to be calculated based on enrollment if it is warranted.
“I am committed to additional education resources in the out years. There are many areas to address,” he wrote. “A new funding formula is one area to explore, but I also want to continue exploring opportunities to increase pay and benefits and improve facilities, among others. All these options should be on the table.”
This story was originally published April 21, 2022 at 3:40 PM.
