Talking about the Education Formula

Representatives met in Boise last week to talk about the Education Formula.

Every school district and school board was invited to participate in meetings and focus groups. Based on the feedback, they have a draft of the formula.

They want more flexibility, transparency, and simplicity. They want to make improvements that allow local districts to have more say on how they spend their money to adapt to individual classrooms.

“There will still be some definitions but in addition to a per-student amount, we’ll have weights for student populations that we know struggle, so students who are at risk due to poverty or other factors, students who are learning English take additional resources. Students who have special education needs also take additional resources. So, this new funding formula is going to recognize those differences,” says Representative Wendy Horman, District 30, Idaho Falls.

This is a first draft and some of the ideas will be modeled based on available funding. There will be drafts and meetings in the ongoing process.

Additional feedback can be given to legislators or committee members. After this, it will be drafted and proposed in the 2019 legislature.