© 2024 Boise State Public Radio
NPR in Idaho
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
Apple's latest iOS (17.4) is preventing our livestreams from playing. We suggest you download the free Boise State Public Radio app & stream us there while we work to troubleshoot the issue.

Robust Tax Collections Could Bode Well For K-12 Budget

Idaho Ed News

If the 2017 Legislature wants to add another $100 million or so to the K-12 budget, it looks like the money will be there.

On Tuesday morning, legislative budget-writers started looking over some of the numbers that will define the session that will begin in early January. And while their counterparts in other states are facing the prospect of spending cuts, Idaho lawmakers could have ample tax revenues on hand.

“Idaho is a little bit of an island right now,” Cathy Holland-Smith, division manager of the Legislative Services Office, told the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee.

JFAC, the Legislature’s powerful budget-writing committee, is meeting in Boise this week for three days of tours and presentations. Lawmakers started their work by hearing an overview about where the state stands, early in the 2016-17 budget year.

The state only has two months of numbers — from July and August, the first two months of the budget year. But tax collections are ahead of projections, and the state also has more carryover money than lawmakers forecast in March, at the end of the 2016 session.

Click here to read the entire story from Idaho Ed News.

You make stories like this possible.

The biggest portion of Boise State Public Radio's funding comes from readers like you who value fact-based journalism and trustworthy information.

Your donation today helps make our local reporting free for our entire community.