Three K-12 related bills were passed by the House during Wednesday (3/10) morning’s session.
Senate Bill 132, which would allow districts leeway to offer a signing bonus, moving expenses, or tuition reimbursement to a teacher employed in the school district, passed on a 53-13 vote.
ASBSD supports the bill.
Rep. Jacqueline Sly said the bill provides “an option for school boards when looking to fill open teaching positions,” which has proven difficult recently with a shrinking teacher pool.
The bill will not remove the negotiating rights of teachers.
House members also passed Senate Bill 134, which proposes a one year moratorium on minor boundary changes in a school district and the creation of a legislative task force to study the process, on a 64-3 vote.
The bill, Introduced as a hoghouse amendment, aims to find a solution to, what Rep. Herman Otten called, a growing “conflict.”
“Let’s take a look at (the minor boundary change process) and see what we can do about it,” Rep. Otten said.
The task force would not review school district reorganization and funding of the study will be provided through the Governor’s office or Department of Education. ASBSD is monitoring the bill.
A 40-27 vote the House passed Senate Bill 100, which creates a leased residential property tax classification.
SB 100 does not implement a levy amount for the leased residential property, but instead, proponents say, allows for the collection of data on leased residential property that will help the state make an informed decision on the need of the levy.
“I think the best public policy comes when we make decisions based on data,” Rep. Don Haggar said. “This bill helps quantify the need, quantify the supply.”
Opponents of the bill said the new classification would spread the burden of raising local effort tax revenue to the other levies currently in statute – agricultural, residential and commercial and there is no guarantee owners of the properties would pass along the savings they have in the tax break to tenants of the leased residential properties.
Leased residential properties are currently categorized under the commercial levy. ASBSD is monitoring the bill.
Each bill returns to the Senate for review of and vote on amendments made on the House.