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: -1

Bill Description: House Bill 761 appropriates $1,296,377,700 to the Public Schools Teachers Division for fiscal year 2025.

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 confirms the program maintenance budget for the Teachers Division of $1,338,904,800. This is a 23% increase in ongoing spending to maintain the division in the last three years. This growth from the FY 2022 base is higher than what would be prescribed by inflationary pressures and growth. This growth is due in part to the $145 million increase for the career ladder in the 2024 fiscal year.

(-1)

Does this budget contain hidden fund transfers or supplemental expenditures that work to enact new policy or are not valid emergency expenditures? Conversely, are fund transfers only made to stabilization funds or are supplemental requests only made in the interest of resolving valid fiscal emergencies?

This legislation provides for nearly a $36 million reduction to the 2024 appropriation. This is because there are fewer students than projected in the system, reducing the amount of money distributed through the funding formula. This supplemental reduction brings the Teachers Division in line with the true number of students being taught. However, these funds are added back into the Operations (renamed Student Support) Division budget.

(0)