The Idaho Spending Index serves to provide a fiscally conservative perspective on state budgeting while providing an unbiased measurement of how Idaho lawmakers apply these values to their voting behavior on appropriations bills. Each bill is analyzed within the context of the metrics below. They receive one (+1) point for each metric that is satisfied by freedom-focused policymaking and lose one (-1) point for each instance in which the inverse is true. The sum of these points composes the score for the bill.

Analyst: Niklas Kleinworth

Rating: 0

Bill Description: Senate Bill 1210 appropriates $15,269,400 to the Public School Educational Services for the Deaf and Blind for fiscal year 2024.

Does this budget incur any wasteful spending among discretionary funds, including new line items? Conversely, does this budget contain any provisions that serve to reduce spending where possible (i.e. base reductions, debt reconciliation, etc.)?

Senate Bill 1210 appropriates $310,000 in funding for additional personnel support to aid with recruitment and retention within the agency. This is in addition to the $1.20 statewide change in employee compensation that was appropriated for this very purpose, duplicating spending.

(-1)

Is the maintenance budget inappropriate for the needs of the state, the size of the agency, or the inflationary environment of the economy? Conversely, is the maintenance budget appropriate given the needs of the state and economic pressures?

This legislation sets the maintenance budget for Educational Services for the Deaf and Blind at $13,974,300, growing from the base by 10.3% over the last three years. This rate is approximately four points slower than the rate of inflation over the same period, demonstrating modest growth in the cost to maintain the agency.

(+1)