State superintendent Debbie Critchfield wants to hear from the public about how the state can modernize its public school funding formula.

Critchfield is hosting in-person “listening sessions” across the state, along with a virtual meeting, this month. Members of the public and education stakeholders are invited to share their perspectives on the formula.

The complex formula — which distributes billions of dollars to public schools each year — hasn’t had a meaningful update since the 1990s, and state policymakers have debated changes for more than a decade, with little progress. Critchfield in recent years has pushed for adding weights to the formula and funding students based on their unique characteristics, like demographics and learning ability.

During this year’s legislative session, the Senate passed a resolution directing the Idaho Department of Education to write a bill updating the funding formula and analyzing the effects on each district. Senate Concurrent Resolution 121 stalled in the House, but the department is moving forward with a formula rewrite anyway.

Here are the dates and locations for this month’s listening sessions:

• Boise — June 4, 6-8 p.m., Lincoln Auditorium, Idaho State Capitol
• Idaho Falls — June 11, 6-8 p.m., College of Eastern Idaho, main boardroom
• Coeur d’Alene — June 18, 6-8 p.m., Coeur d’Alene School District, Midtown Meeting Center
• Virtual meeting — June 25, 6-8 p.m.