Issue Updates from the 2016 Session
Education The legislature began on January 11, 2016. The strengthening economy allowed the Legislature to address areas of vital interest to Idahoans such as the state’s public education system. Public schools received its second consecutive 7.4% increase in funding. The K-12 budget was increased by 7.4% and higher education received an increase of 8.0%. Increases
Educational Funding
The Legislature approved a $66 million increase in public school funding for FY 2015 that begins Jul 1, 2014. This includes: • A $1.7 billion budget; a 5.1 percent increase in state general fund spending. • $35 million for operations funding, a 12 percent increase over 2014. $13.9 million in ongoing new funding for teacher
Idaho Education Statistics
It is helpful to compare Idaho education with other states, particularly as we make the difficult choice on how to use our limited resources. According to the Report Card of American Education Idaho: • Is 29th overall – outperforming Oregon, Utah, California and Arizona. • Is graded B- in Education Policy; only six states have
Education
For the fiscal year that begins July 1, 2013, FY 2014, the legislature appropriated the following dollars and percent of General Fund Revenues for education: $1.3 Billion or 47% for Public Schools, $236.5 Million or 8.5 % for College and Universities and $143 million or 5.1% for Other Education. An example of the several education
Education HB 65 Passes the House
Rep. Reed DeMordaunt’s bill to keep districts whole, in the wake of the Students Come First repeal, passed the House Tuesday February 19, 2013. DeMordaunt, who leads the House Education Committee, said House Bill 65 prevents school districts from losing more than $30 Million in anticipated funding. The districts anticipated this funding would be available, based around the
H 72, The Education Foundation Regulatory Relief Act
On January 29, 2013 a bill I sponsored, H 72 – the Education Foundation Regulatory Relief Act, was introduced in the House. This bill passed the House on February 11, 2013 70-0 and was approved without dissent by the Senate. It has now been signed by the Governor. This bill amends Idaho Code Section 63-3029A that currently offers an Idaho income tax credit for voluntary donations to various components of our state’s educational infrastructure that are tax-exempt under Section 501c(3) of the Internal Revenue (IRS)Code. In order to take advantage of these credits, eligible entities are required to form separately governed nonprofit IRS tax-exempt foundations. For some of these organizations, the cost of creating the foundation as well as the annual state and federal compliance requirements can make it difficult or impossible to create a foundation or when started the operational costs can eat up a significant portion of their annual revenue. Additionally, these small foundations often rely on volunteers as they many times have no paid staff, permanent accountants or bookkeepers. And, over-the-years, many small organizations have lost their tax-exempt status through failure to file IRS Form 990 annually.