While the Idaho State Legislature has poured millions into school infrastructure, a lesser-known reduction in state school funding for teachers is also happening.
This reduction has required Blackfoot School District 55 to lay off a total of 25 employees, including teachers.
Blackfoot School District 55 Superintendent Brian Kress is quick to acknowledge the support the state has given for buildings — in fact, he credits the School Modernization Program for rescuing the Blackfoot High School Student Center bond project from being canceled due to construction inflation costs.
The teacher’s side of the state funding budget, however, has had significant cuts. It all centers around the state’s funding formula. Historically, it has been based on average student daily attendance.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, that formula shifted to being based on the number of students enrolled. That seemingly simple switch brought greater funds for the schools.
Starting with the 2023-24 school year, the funding formula switched back to being based on average daily attendance. Having to provide teachers and resources for all enrolled students with money for only those who regularly attend has been likened to inviting 10 dinner guests but setting the table for only nine.
The funding change meant Blackfoot’s school budget dropped from $26 million to $23.75 million. Since each employee is valued by the state at a flat rate of $125,000, this decrease meant the district should have reduced its employees by 18 people.
However, Kress and the school board decided to delay any lay-offs because the state was discussing a compensative fund that could make up the difference in the funding approaches. They were willing to take the risk of having to use savings to pay for the teachers if the state didn’t follow through with this “gap” funding, as Kress calls it.
In the 2024 legislative session a “gap” fund was approved – but only $105 million for the whole state. Kress had expected closer to $140 million. Also, it became clearer that it was a one-time payment only.
Blackfoot school district received $1.4 million in gap money, which means it had to use about $850,000 of savings to pay their employees for the 23-24 school year. It also means that they have to reduce their employees after all.
The state is projected to only fund 183 employees in the Blackfoot School District for the coming school year, which is 25 less than they had before the funding changes. Kress and the board determined that it would have to downsize by one less administrator, 12 less teachers and 12 less support staff. Fortunately, all but one of the teachers already had plans to retire or move. Likewise with half of the staff.
The administrator the district laid off oversaw facilities. However, with this layoff, the district is still maintaining the standard administrator ratios of one administrator to 13 teachers and one administrator to 12 staff.
As to why the number of state funded positions dropped for the second year, the reason may come from a different source. For the 22-23 school year – before moving to average daily attendance funding – the state funded 209 positions. After the switch in formulas, the number of positions funded dropped to 190. If the drop was only because of formulas, then that base number would largely remain constant. Then why did it drop further for this current year to funding for only 183 positions?
According to Kress, Blackfoot is a “shrinking school district.” He noted that the graduating class of 2023 had 335 seniors. Those seniors, however, were replaced the following August by only 215 kindergarten students – a net loss of 120 students.
He fears the same drop will happen this August. Will the incoming kindergartners match the 325 seniors that graduated this year? If not, he forecasts “more difficult decisions are likely around the corner.”
Most Popular
Comments / 0