New education funding formula headed to Legislature

After years of research, meetings and planning, the new education funding formula is headed to Idaho’s state Capitol.

The new formula seeks to replace the current formula, which has not been updated since 1994. The new formula will change school funding from being on an attendance basis to an enrollment basis. Idaho is one of seven states in the nation that currently uses a resource allocation formula, meaning the state makes decisions about staffing and how much schools can spend on certain areas. This new formula will take into account various factors regarding specific students.

“Additional funding will be added for student characteristics and learning environments where the student is learning,” said Rep. Wendy Horman, R-Idaho Falls. “So, it’s much more individualized, much more local control where the people who know those students best can make the decisions about where to focus the resources.”

This has been a long process for lawmakers, partly because of how much feedback they have been seeking and receiving from districts and charter schools around the Gem State.

“We have received so much feedback over the (last) three years,” Horman said. “The local districts and charters have been engaged all along the way. And we’ve built this in response to their concerns.”

Some districts are not happy with the new funding formula. There are about 10 districts that could potentially lose money. Some could lose several thousand dollars, while a couple could lose hundreds of thousands of dollars. The committee that created the formula is working to make sure no district loses money because of the change. There is a hold harmless period where no district or charter school will lose funding for the first three years of the new formula.

“One of them we discovered is the Orofino School District,” Horman said. “They have Idaho Youth Challenge Academy up there, which is a military school. We didn’t realize those kids were being counted in the Orofino School District until just last month. And so there are some outliers in there. We’re going to get to the bottom of every single one and make sure that this works for every school district and charter school in the state.”

This bill has a long way to go through the Legislature. It is expected to be heard in the Senate first.

There is a joint Senate and House Education Committee public hearing on the formula bill. It is Thursday at 3 p.m. at the Lincoln Auditorium at the state Capitol.