(Boise, ID) – Superintendent of Public Instruction Debbie Critchfield is applauding a plan laid out today by Governor Brad Little to continue investing in Idaho’s K-12 public schools.
In his annual State of the State address, Governor Little said he will ask state lawmakers to approve a spending plan that would boost teacher and school employee salaries throughout the state. The governor’s budget request includes $83 million for the state’s educator workforce. The budget recommendation totals $3.3 billion for public schools.
“I thank Governor Little for his continued commitment to public education in our state,” Critchfield said. “As proposed, these investments will continue to help our local districts and charters. Teaching is the backbone of our schools and our educators do incredible things to support our students. I’m grateful for the governor’s recognition of their essential role and welcome this investment.”
Critchfield will focus in the coming weeks on working with lawmakers to overhaul the state’s funding for local schools. Specifically, she’s advocating for a per-student funding model that would provide districts and charters with additional funding for certain students. The goal is to modernize funding to more closely reflect the actual cost of educating students.
“This updated per-student funding model provides local schools with more flexibility to address the costs that come with serving their students,” Critchfield said. “It addresses the reality that some students’ needs are greater than others, and that districts and charters aren’t the same and must spend more to meet those needs.”
As proposed, the updated funding would add multipliers to the state’s per-student allocation weighted for characteristics such as special education, economically disadvantaged, at risk and