Local administrators, lawmakers reaction to Ybarra’s budget proposal

New state schools Superintendent Sherri Ybarra gave a public school budget pitch to the Joint-Finance Appropriations Committee on Thursday, calling for $87.3 million increase in state funding for public schools next year — $14 million less than what Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter proposed.

Local school administrators said even though the proposal is less of a dollar amount it could be better for public school districts.

Sugar-Salem School District Superintendent Alan Dunn said Ybarra’s proposal focuses on an idea most school administrators would be happy to see implemented.

“If we could just take all that money and use it the way we need to, we would be able to give our children a better education,” said Dunn.

Ybarra is calling for a shift in the way operational money is distributed. She proposed that $18.7 million be moved from mandated non-discretionary money to the operational budget.

This would allow districts to spend money where they see need instead of being told where it must go.

Another proposal Ybarra has is to raise teacher salary.

District 93 Superintendent Dr. Chuck Shackett said he welcomes a teacher pay increase, but doesn’t agree with her idea.

He said it’s not fair for teachers in the pilot program to get a pay raise while others wait.

“I’m concerned with the direction she’s going on because she’s saying there would be nine districts piloting this increase in pay for teachers. You can’t do that. You can’t pick nine districts and say we’re going to pay teachers more than the other districts,” said Shackett.

Rep. Wendy Horman, R-Idaho Falls, said one of the biggest issues is the lack of detail.

She wants to know how the proposal would logically happen.

“Anytime you take money for a new idea or new program, that money has to come from somewhere else, so do you put less into reserves, do you pull it from somewhere else in the public school budget, do you have to try and get it from a different budget — you know the money, more of something in one area means less of something in a different area,” said Horman.

Ybarra also said that overcrowded class size in classrooms results in lower achievement.

She plans to propose a statutory limit on the amount of students per class for kindergarten through third grade.

The JFAC starts setting budgets Feb. 23.