Two bills, two actions in appropriations on Thursday (2/8).

 

House Appropriations members passed House Bill 1166, provides the Joint or Interim Appropriations committee the power to approve, amend or deny teacher compensation waivers, on an 8-1 vote.

 

ASBSD supported the bill.

 

“This gives (the committee) some flexibility to say ‘yes’ or ‘no’ on some pieces,” ASBSD Executive Director Wade Pogany said.

 

Testifying in favor of the bill, Sen. Justin Cronin, who sat on the appropriations committee that reviewed the waivers, noted how “declining enrollment” among districts who applied for waivers resulted in complicated decisions.

 

“We were making them spend money they didn’t have, with money they didn’t get,” Sen. Cronin said. “We could’ve addressed some of the issues.”

 

HB 1166 now heads to the House floor for review.

 

House Bill 1314, which permits school districts to use two-year averaging when calculating enrollment for state aid purposes with the greater of the two figures being utilized, will not be headed to House floor, however.

 

The bill, which ASBSD supported, was tabled on an 8-1 vote. The tabling motion resulted in no testimony being taken.

 

With HB 1314’s demise, the discussion on adding two-year averaging to the state aid calculation for next year appears finished as House Bill 1135 was defeated by the House Appropriations committee last week.

 

For updates from legislative session, check the ASBSD Blog, Bill Tracker page and Twitter feed.