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 719 appropriates $15,614,800 to Educational Services for the Deaf and Blind for fiscal year 2025.

ANALYST NOTE: This legislation makes standard adjustments to the maintenance budget set in House Bill 460. These adjustments include career ladder equivalency with K-12 peers, replacement items, and the statewide 2% change in employee compensation. There is also an increase in spending authority to match receipts in the endowment funds.

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 maintenance budget for Educational Services for the Deaf and Blind at $15,614,800, growing it from the base by 31.9% in the last three years. This rate is faster than what would be prescribed by inflationary pressures and growth.

(-1)