And Just Like That!

Soups On!  I had no sooner hit send on my last blog entry when the Conference Committee released its spreadsheet outlining the agreed-upon appropriations that will comprise the 2023 omnibus education finance and policy bill.  I will provide a more comprehensive description of the bill tomorrow as I have to digest the entire document.

The big furniture is situated like this:

• General Education Basic Formula–4% for 2023-2024/2% for 2024-25/future increases tied to inflation with 2% floor and 3% ceiling.
• Special Education Cross-Subsidy Aid–44% reduction in cross-subsidy in next three fiscal years/50% thereafter.
• English Learner Cross-Subsidy–$41 million for 2023-24/$46 million for 2024-25/Increases in next biennium.
• Student Support Personnel–$29 million for 2023-24/$35.3 million for 2024-25/Increases in next biennium.
• MTSS–$13.5 million per year this biennium and $13.5 million per year in the base going forward.
• Unemployment Insurance–$135 in FY 24 that can be used over the next four years for Unemployment Insurance costs for “between-term” employees.  I am sure there is an explanation that goes along with this.  It appears to be the Governor’s number, but there is a line later in the spreadsheet that talks about Unemployment Insurance costs for special education personnel in the next biennium, so I will have more information by end-of-day Friday.

Here is the spreadsheet with the amounts.  Pertinent numbers are in Columns H through M.  HF 2497 Conference Committee Agreement Spreadsheet

That’s it for now.  Stay tuned for a couple of entries tomorrow as the details become available.