As the 2018 Legislature lurches toward adjournment, some lawmakers are getting a jump on their summer homework.
That includes the committee that will spend a third off-season scrutinizing Idaho’s school funding formula.
The committee will meet at 10 a.m. Tuesday in room EW 42, in the Statehouse’s garden level.
It figures to be a one-hour organizational meeting, according to the meeting agenda.
The hard decisions won’t come until later in the year.
For the past two years, the 10-member committee has studied the state’s complicated school funding formula, which has not been updated since 1994. The committee has not made any detailed recommendations — although it has said it wants to move to a formula based on student enrollment, rather than a formula based on average student attendance.
While subtle, the shift to an enrollment-based model is designed to better support changes in the education system, such as mastery-based learning.
The funding formula committee is expected to make concrete recommendations to the 2019 Legislature.
The Legislature wrapped up its substantive work Thursday. However, lawmakers are staying in town for part of the week — in part, to see whether Gov. Butch Otter signs their bills into law or vetoes any measures in the next few days. During this lull, three legislative “interim committees” are meeting Tuesday to plan their work for the rest of the year.
