Budget writers at Idaho’s Capital approved a 5.1 percent increase in education spending for next fiscal year. The budget includes a 1 percent boost for teacher pay and an additional $15.8 million dollars for leadership bonuses.
If approved, the budget will bring state spending on schools to $1.374 billion dollars. That’s slightly higher than 2008’s $1.367 billion, but still below the state’s 2009 peak of $1.418 billion.
The budget will send more money to Idaho's schools than the one proposed in January by Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter. His proposal included no money to increase teacher pay. It would have boosted school spending by about 3 percent.
David Adler, head of Boise State’s Andrus Center for Public Policy, says that disagreement with the governor is significant.
“I think it reflects the fact that legislators have a better hand on the public pulse when it comes to the issue of funding education,” Adler says. “That (lawmakers have) really felt, probably in a very personal way, how voters feel about education issues and education funding.”
Adler says in boosting teacher pay, lawmakers were thinking - in part - about their re-election campaigns. He says there's a growing feeling among Idahoans that the state is not adequately funding education. Adler says that includes a belief that teachers are underpaid.
“Because everyone knows a teacher,” he explains. “(A lawmaker’s) position on that kind of an issue can translate into votes.”
Education spending makes up nearly half of Idaho's annual state budget. Last year, the state increased school spending by 2.2 percent.
Adler thinks Monday's proposal from the Joint Finance Appropriations Committee is relatively modest compared to education cuts made during the recession. He says Republican lawmakers try to walk a fine line in boosting education spending. They want to balance the sometimes contradictory expectations of their constituents to be committed to education while also being fiscally conservative. Adler says those lawmakers will have to craft a message that says both of those things.
“Probably you’ll hear from most of them that they’ve done a lot of good things on education this year,” he says. “They’ll admit they haven’t done enough, but (say) ‘This is what the budget permits. We can do more next time.’ In other words, try to reassure voters that additional efforts to more adequately fund education are around the bend.”
The proposal needs to clear the House and Senate and be approved by the governor.
Copyright 2014 Boise State Public Radio
