Boise State political science professor Gary Moncrief calls what happened Wednesday in the Idaho Senate extraordinary. A plan approved by the Joint Finance and Appropriations Committee, known as JFAC, died on a 17 to 18 vote.
“Usually, in fact almost always what goes to the floor from JFAC is accepted on the floor,” Moncrief says.
It’s been at least 20 years since lawmakers rejected a JFAC budget he says. And this wasn’t just any budget. It was for public schools and it accounts for nearly half of state spending. That’s $1.3 billion, $1.6 if you add in federal money. It was about 2 percent bigger than last year’s.
Opponents weren’t concerned with the amount. John Goedde chairs the Senate Education Committee. He wanted money directed to teacher pay to go to general operations. And he disliked a provision to give teachers bonuses.
“We’re leaving it to local schools to develop the plans and send them back,” Goedde said. “I suggest to you that that allows the bar to be set at ankle height, and not at any measure of achievement.”
Geodde doesn’t just object to the details of the bonus plan. He sees its inclusion as policy setting, which budget writers are not supposed to do. JFAC chair Dean Cameron disputed the assertion he had overstepped his authority. In defense he pointed to the teacher salary money he wants to restore. His committee froze it during the recession which he says violated state policy.
“Nobody complained then,” Cameron said. “Nobody said you’re stepping across public policy lines, because we all knew that it had to be done.”
Gary Moncrief says the education budget was a casualty in a political turf battle.
“It may sound… I don’t know… like West Side Story. But I don’t view that as anything particularly wrong, that there is an argument over jurisdiction here,” Moncrief says. “You’ll see that in almost any legislature where committees matter.”
Moncrief says committees are important to the lawmaking process. Committee members are supposed to be experts in their areas and Moncrief says it’s typical for them to jealously guard what they see as their jurisdiction. He says it’s common in many states for policy setters to fight with budget writers.