Legislators, school officials, students and parents are calling for the state to use a portion of its surplus to increase funding to schools as the federal coronavirus funding runs out, but legislative leaders warn that this decision may come at the expense of other budgetary requests.
In 2017, legislators made an agreement to readjust the state formula for funding public schools, increasing funding for certain districts and decreasing funding for others. The formula was scheduled to be rolled out gradually over the course of 10 years. The current proposal will speed up the rollout so that schools receiving an increase in their state funding will be fully funded by the year 2025.
According to calculations based on a similar bill last year, the cost will be an additional $275 million in the 2025 budget.