The Idaho Senate and House Education Committees have been voting on changes and improvements including what to do with the funds set aside for Propositions 1, 2 and 3, rules for home-schooled students proceeding to post-secondary education and the Alternate Route for Certification Program.
Propositions 1, 2 and 3 were proposed laws that would limit teacher bargaining rights, provide test-score-based pay and require laptops for every student. After being repealed in the November election, more than $30 million remains unallocated within the state education budget.
Paul Headlee, principal budget analyst for public schools and higher education, presented the House’s Education Committee with three main options of what to do with the money.
The first option takes no legislative action at all. The more than $30 million would stay in the appropriation until June 30, when the funds will be dealt with at the end-of-year reconciliation. If the funds stay until the end-of-the-year reconciliation, they would be transferred to the Public Education Stabilization Fund.
Before the recession, the PESF had approximately $113 million. Due to the economic downturn, about $85 million was removed from the fund in order to avoid cuts from school districts. The current balance is approximately $49 million, not including the $30 million unallocated education funds.
The second option includes distributing the $30 million to school districts in FY 2013 to cover funding disbursements repealed by Propositions 1, 2 and 3, about 2.4 percent of the districts’ General Fund appropriation.
As opposed to option one leaving PSEF with a cushion of $30.6 million, option two, if implemented, would actually cost the state $6.9 million.
“Now this isn’t insurmountable … ” Headlee said. “But it’s certainly a different scenario than going into the end of the year with 30-plus million.”
The third option Headlee presented to the committee is using the money for something other than public schools. This would require a 2/3 vote by the Joint Financial Appropriations Committee to reopen the FY 2013 budget for public schools.
This presentation was just the beginning of finding a place to put the funds. Committees are still searching for more options and will vote on them later in the session.
“These are the primary options. Someone may want to do a little bit of each one of those options, or maybe a different version of number two, maybe reinstate some different programs,” Headlee said. “These are really the primary options, and there may be other approaches out there.”
The State Board of Education also proposed updated home schooling requirements for financial
aid. If the improvements are accepted, students will not be required
to take the GED in order to get into college.
Marilyn Whitney, chief communications and legislative affairs officer for the State Board of Education said these changes were to provide a benefit to both the institutions and the students.
“So their home school education was recognized as an education by a definition and so that those students were not required to take a GED, but could take one of the college entrance exams and then a placement exam in order for them to be placed in certain courses,” Whitney said.
The SBOE also is looking to change some information with the Alternate Route for Certification Program.
Tracie Bent, the chief planning and policy officer, said the Alternate Route for Certification Program allows people who have strong content knowledge to become teachers in public schools, rather than going through the traditional route.
Before these changes were presented to the committees, the candidates were required to have a bachelors degree. If the changes are accepted, the candidates will need to have all the requirements for a bachelor’s degree except the student teaching or practicum portion.
Bent said individuals can also be the teacher of record for their classes before full certification instead of having another teacher assigned to the class.
Emily Johnson can be reached at [email protected]