Legislative budget writers met with Boise School District leaders Tuesday to get a sense of how the public school budget affects large districts.

Legislative budget writers met with Boise School District leaders Tuesday to get a sense of how the public school budget affects large districts.
Topping the list is the teacher pay bill, which provides teachers a 1 percent raise, $15.8 million in leadership “premiums,” and a boost in starting salary.
Still sitting on Gov. Butch Otter’s desk: a bill to provide teachers a 1 percent raise and $15.8 million in leadership premiums. Otter has until April 4 to act on the bill.
Democrats lead opposition to the school budget bills, saying the state still lags 2009 spending levels by more than $100 million.
The proposed K-12 budget still lags behind the original 2008-09 budget by $43 million. And the budget fails to keep up with enrollment increases, rising health insurance costs and other variables, says state Rep. John Gannon, D-Boise.
Patrons in 35 school districts approved school tax levies Tuesday, but many of these communities are “stretched extremely thin financially,” Idaho Education Association President Penni Cyr said Wednesday.
Want to learn a little more about the K-12 budget, the Idaho Core Standards rollout, and the Meridian school levy? Tune in here.
‘It’s hard to be anything other than optimistic,’ Idaho Falls schools Superintendent George Boland says of the proposed K-12 budget. See why educators and stakeholders are rallying behind the plan.
Two small but contentious pieces of the $1.7 billion budget are unresolved — high school WiFi technology and the Schoolnet instructional management system.
The proposed budget includes a 1 percent raise for teachers, and $15.8 million in teacher “premiums.”